Group items tagged

Pharmacogenomics holds the promise that drugs might one day be tailored to your genetic makeup. By Mayo Clinic Staff Modern medications save millions of lives a year. Yet any one medication might not work for you, even if it works for other people. Or it might cause severe side effects for you but not for someone else. Your age, lifestyle and health all influence your response to medications. But so do your genes. Scientists are working to match specific gene variations with responses to particular medications.

"The brain thrives on a fat-rich, low carbohydrate diet, which unfortunately is relatively uncommon in human populations today," reports David Perlmutter, author of Grain Brain. "Mayo Clinic researchers showed that individuals favoring carbohydrates in their diets had a remarkable 89 percent increased risk for developing dementia as contrasted to those whose diets contained the most fat. Having the highest levels of fat consumption was actually found to be associated with an incredible 44 percent reduction in risk for developing dementia."