Tag : dna

Genetics is defined as the study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics. In every one of our cells, there are 46 strands of DNA that are tightly coiled into a chromosome. Within each chromosome, it is estimated that we have between 20,000 and 25,000 genes. For the most part, genes are the same in all humans, but a small number of genes are slightly different for each individual. These small differences are what make you who you are and unique from everyone else.

Cancer has become a frighteningly common word in recent years. You read about it in the paper, hear about it on television, and even if you’re lucky enough not to have had it, you probably know someone who has. Worse still, if you believe everything you read or hear, it seems that just about everything we do in life is going to cause it.  Sunshine, peanut butter, chlorine and fluoride in your water, diesel fumes in the air, and the gasoline fumes you breathe when filling your gas tank, have all been indicated as factors that increase your risk of getting cancer. It’s enough to make a person want to crawl in a hole and eat nothing but anti-oxidants for the rest of his life. Despite all the scary news floating around out there, let me put some of this in perspective for you….

Firstly, it is important to understand what cancer is. Our DNA is comprised, to a large extent, of carbon. A small percentage of that carbon is radioactive and is constantly breaking

Some patients get upset if I will not accept, on faith, that their latest homeopathic, holistic, ionized, wheat grass remedy (you get the idea) was unlikely to cure their arthritis. Many years ago I accepted the fact that there are many things I do not, and probably never will, know.  But I like to think I know SOMETHING.

I think the perception that we doctors don’t know anything derives from how often patients get told crazy, conflicting health advice. Consider a man who was born in 1949 who would be about 60 now. In his lifetime, he would have seen doctors talk about which brand of cigarettes had the greatest health benefits and that a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs was healthy. However, he would also remember being told that the cholesterol in eggs and bacon would kill him but then he’d recall being told that maybe it wasn’t as bad as we originally thought. More recently, he has probably heard that there is good and bad cholesterol and he needs to get