Heart disease kills more people than any other disease. Major causes of heart attacks include cigarette smoking, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. You can also inherit defective genes from your father or mother that will increase your risk of having a heart attack.

You can control what you eat but your genetic make up is beyond your control. This turns out NOT to be true.

A large study screened a population of 8000 Europeans, Chinese, South Asians, Arabs, and Latin Americans for genetic defects on chromosome 9 in the p21 region. They looked for four specific defects in a single DNA building block (single nucleotide polymorphisms).

Each of the four genetic defects increases the risk of a heart attack by 20%. It was found that certain foods allowed the harmful genes to turn on and result in heart attacks. Other good foods were protective and prevented the harmful genes from turning on. The foods you eat can control the expression of certain detrimental genes.

A diet high in meat, poultry and fried foods failed to prevent the harmful genes from turning on. Whole grains were mildly protective. Fruits and vegetables were highly protective and raw vegetables were the most effective in protecting people from harmful gene related heart attacks.

Ellen White, a 19 century health reformer advocated just such a diet more than 150 year ago when she wrote, “Not a few of our people need instruction in regard to the principles of health reform. … We need to keep more strictly to a simple diet of fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables. Counsels on Diet and Foods, 329