We do not inherit a disease state per se. Rather, we inherit a set of susceptibility factors to environmental influences that modify the risk of developing a disease.

Genetic susceptibility factors help explain why individuals are affected differently by the same environmental factors. For example, some health conscious individuals with "acceptable" cholesterol levels suffer myocardial infarction at age 40. Other individuals seem immune to heart disease in spite of years of smoking, poor diet, and obesity. Genetic variations account for, at least in part, this difference in response to similar environmental factors.

Nowadays many people are choosing to become more proactive about their health. Why? Again, because, in large part, diet, nutrition, and lifestyle factors can exert a strong influence on how, or even if, a gene will express itself. Knowing about increased risk (and specific risk reduction strategies)-and knowing about them as early as possible-is the first step towards an effective primary prevention program.

The genomic revolution is happening now. Medicine will never be the same. A new era of truly individualized medicine is rapidly becoming a clinical reality for practitioners and their patients.