About 5.2 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. By 2050, the condition will affect 11 to 16 million people in the U.S.  Annually, about 6 to 25 percent of those with mild cognitive impairment go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease.  Researchers have found that measurements of two biomarkers, amyloid beta 42 peptide and tau protein, can accurately predict if a person will develop Alzheimer’s disease.

No one knows why African-Americans tend to have a higher risk for hypertension. One controversial hypothesis, known as the Middle Passage theory, is that black people who survived the harrowing trip across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa in the holds of ships did so because their bodies were better able to preserve salt, allowing them to avoid death by dehydration. Therefore, the theory goes, some African-Americans have a higher prevalence of “salt-sensitive hypertension”: Their blood pressure increases by unusually high amounts in response to salt.  Isolation of the MYH9 gene does not necessarily refute the theory

Researchers for the Scripps Genomic Health Initiative are conducting a study to see if DNA tests have a positive impact on behavior.

November is diabetes awareness month and it’s estimated more than five million people in the U.S. are unaware that they have it.  Are you at risk?  23-million Americans have this disease and many more are at high risk of developing it.

A new study finds the lives of nearly 8,000 black Americans could be saved each year if doctors could figure out a way to bring their average blood pressure down to the average level of whites.

You’ve probably heard about genes that can cause breast cancer and about the genetic tests that can spot them. Well, now doctors are using similar tests to find people at high risk of developing colon cancer. It’s the best way to avoid a disease that can devastate families which are susceptible to it.

A young man from Utah has taken up rollerblading even though he has a rare genetic condition where the skin on his body literally peels off.