By Connie Lauerman
Tribune staff reporter
December 21, 2006
You've probably had one of these amusing--or horrifying--moments: You're chastising a child or giving advice to a friend or sibling and you realize that you sound just like your mother. Or you gaze at your maturing face in the mirror, and you see hers.
Those aren't the only ways you may echo your mother.
Much of a mother's genetic blueprint, not to mention some of her unhealthy habits, are passed on to her daughter, doctors say.
That's why doctors nowadays focus so intensely on family history, especially your mother's. But a daughter is not a carbon copy, and many risk factors can be modified.
We inherit half of our genes from each parent, "so it's random what you do and what you don't inherit," says Shelly Cummings, a genetics counselor and assistant director of the Cancer Risk Center at the University of Chicago. "How those genetics mix up and present themselves--that is more complicated."
A major factor
Your mother's biology is not necessarily your destiny, but a mother's biology is a "huge imprint," says Dr. Christiane Northrup, a Maine obstetrician-gynecologist and author of "Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Creating a Legacy of Physical and Emotional Health" (Bantam).
"Your mother's biology sets the stage for what parts of your biology get enhanced or downplayed," Northrup says.
She believes it begins in the womb and accounts for the lifelong connection that children often feel with their mothers.
Sometimes the maternal genetic link is clear and frightening.
Chicagoan Marisa Stevoff's family has a history of breast cancer among the women. So Stevoff, 46, scheduled a mammogram every February for years. "I planned for breast cancer, going over in my mind the best month to get the diagnosis and plan treatment with the right doctors," she says.
Stevoff figured that by February doctors would have returned from holiday vacations and it would be easier for her to start chemotherapy in the spring.
Stevoff learned she carries a mutated BRCA2, which increases her lifetime risk up to 80 percent for breast cancer and up to 60 percent for ovarian cancer. It led Stevoff, a color department manager for a large beauty salon, to have her ovaries, uterus and breasts removed in fall 2004 as a preventive measure.
Although everyone has BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, the people who have mutations--or abnormalities--on those genes are at a higher risk of cancer, says Dr. Boris Pasche, director of the Cancer Genetics Program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
It's not all genetics
Not all of a mother's legacy is genetic. Daughters often pick up mother's habits too, such as smoking, drinking and preferring certain kinds or quantities of food that can lead to obesity, says Dr. Andrew Badowski, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Edward Hospital in Naperville.
"Those habits and genes are somewhat intertwined," he says.
While he cautions that there is no good scientific data, Badowski says he observes similarities in the pregnancies of mothers and daughters.
"Pre-eclampsia in the third trimester of pregnancy and C-sections seem to be a family trend," he says.
Miscarriage sometimes occurs for genetic reasons, says Dr. Lisa Oldham, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Rush University Medical Center. A blood-clotting disorder is one reason, she says.
However, there is one possibly inherited trait that might make some women happy. Two recent studies of Australian and British twins suggest that genetics play a role in the frequency of orgasm in women.
In the Australian study of 3,000 female twins, researchers found that genes accounted for 31 percent of women's success in reaching orgasm through sexual intercourse, 37 percent during sexual contact with a partner other than intercourse and 51 percent through masturbation.
In general, discussing sexual matters and your family medical history is crucial for staying healthy.
Being aware of your family medical history beyond your mother and father is important, because sometimes diseases skip a generation, says Dr. Marc Silver, clinical professor and chairman of medicine at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
There is a link between having a hysterectomy because of fibroids and the subsequent development of high blood pressure many years later, Silver says.
Diabetes, heart disease and stroke have genetic components that can be transmitted through both men and women, Silver says.
"The incidence of heart disease in women is growing," he says. "Part of that is the cigarette smoking and so on, but also it's better diagnosed than it was before. Ten or 20 years ago, let alone 50 or 100, women with heart disease were underdiagnosed and undertreated."
That's a change that allows both mothers and daughters to create a healthy maternal legacy whether or not they sound or look alike.
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Learn your family history
You can't choose your genes, but knowledge is power. Knowing your family medical history gives you a chance to modify your behavior and lower your risk. Find out which diseases run in your family while your mother and other relatives are alive and able to remember.
You can find a blank family health tree form to fill out at www.hhs.gov/familyhistory. Or call 888-275-4772 to order a paper copy.
-- C.L.
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clauerman@tribune.com
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
original source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/printedition/chi-0512210209dec21,1,7204396.story