Lifestyle Management Still Relevant, Despite Genetics Advancement, in Non-Communicable Diseases Risks: A Perspective

Genotype and lifestyle factors have been implicated as the causes of non-communicable diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and chronic respiratory disease. Lifestyle factors constitute physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake and dietary habits. These factors alongside genetic factors have been studied over the past years on their relationships with non-communicable diseases. This review examined and compared the strengths of the two factors, lifestyle and genotype, in causing non-communicable diseases. A search was done online, predominantly with PubMed, to identify articles that contained the keywords, lifestyle, diet, exercise, genotype, gene, non-communicable diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes. For diabetes, the results of this review showed that management of lifestyle factors can be used to prevent type 2 diabetes among genetically predisposed persons. Cancers studies have suggested that a Mediterranean diet is associated with lower cancer risk for both genetically susceptible people and non-susceptible individuals. Similar findings were gotten for cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory diseases. The results suggest a strong impact of lifestyle-related factors as a cause of non-communicable diseases though genetic factors cannot be underestimated. With good management of lifestyle factors, non-communicable diseases can be prevented and the risks reduced even among genetically high-risk individuals.