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The "development of race-based products such as vitamins and drugs" by pharmaceutical manufacturers is "misleading the public to believe that races ar biologically distinct, requiring race-specific products, simply the basis for their wares flies in the face of science," Susanne Haga, an assistant inquiry professor at Duke University's Institute for Genome Sciences Policy and Public Policy, writes in a Durham Herald Sun opinion man. According to Haga, "While there are some differences in disease prevalence among races, thither are no diseases or conditions -- and sure no nutritionary requirements -- that are exclusive to just one group." She adds, "If we've knowledgeable anything from the last decade of genetics enquiry, it's that our DNA is mostly colorblind."
Nubian Health Products and GenSpec offer vitamins and/or dietary supplements specifically for blacks, and NitroMed developed the heart disease treatment BiDil, the first FDA-approved raced-based drug, she notes. "As a genetic science researcher and someone of mixed heritage myself, these companies reflect a troubling trend," Haga writes.
She continues, "Given the wide variation within groups, the growing of a 'genetically specific' formula would be challenging, to aver the least," adding, "The recent increase in the numbers of people world Health Organization identify with more than one race would appear to pose a kinda large trouble to the companies marketing race-based products."
Haga writes, "Although genetics is tortuous in most if not all aspects of our health, the environment plays at least an be role," adding, "Even if we knew which genes played a part in our dietary needs, it's unlikely those differences would follow perceived racial divides." The industriousness needs to "look beyond skin colour" in the development of personalized music, Haga writes (Haga, Durham Herald Sun, 8/22).
A "Today's Topics in Health Disparities" webcast on "Race and Genetics: The Future of Personalized Medicine" is available on-line.
Reprinted with kind permit from hTTP://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, hunting the archives, or sign up for email pitch at hypertext transfer protocol://www.kaisernetwork.
