Press Release - Researchers discover genes linking stress, high blood pressure, alcoholism and tobacco addiction Quebec City – A team led by a Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher has uncovered a series of genes linking mental stress, high blood pressure, alcoholism and tobacco addiction.
Discovering and mapping these genetic pathways leading to major heart disease and stroke risk factors is the latest breakthrough from ongoing studies in the Saguenay-Lac St. Jean region of Quebec.
“Our results remind us that we are lucky that biology is not entirely destiny,” team director Dr. Pavel Hamet told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2007, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.
“Fortunately, one’s genetic inheritance consequences can be modified to a significant extent by living a heart-healthy lifestyle,” says Dr. Hamet.
The most recent studies from the Saguenay focus on sexual differences and alcoholism. “The genes we discovered that govern alcohol intake appear on chromosome X,” says Dr. Hamet.
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