Sometimes there’s very little you can do to avoid illness or disease. Your family background comes into play, sometimes outweighing all of your healthy habits, such as eating farm-to-table organic, and exercising on a regular basis.

Just because your mother or grandfather had a certain disease doesn’t mean you’re doomed, however. It does give you extra information so you can head off disease before it gets out of control; it also lets you know the red flags to watch out for.

In other words, you might have a stronger chance of developing certain diseases compared to someone with no family history of them. The closer you are to someone on your family tree with a certain disease, the more likely you are to develop it.

Likewise, the more people in your family who had the disease, the more likely you are to develop it. That’s why knowing your genealogy and family tree can play a crucial role in taking care of your health. [Read more…]