Race-based medicine on its way

Differences in response to medical products have been observed in racially and ethnically distinct subgroups of the US population. Approved doses and dosing regimens for some of the most widely prescribed drugs have also been shown to be different in different countries (e.g., the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan). These differences may be attributable to intrinsic ethnic factors (e.g., genetics, metabolism, race), extrinsic ethnic factors associated with environment and culture (e.g., medical practice, diet, use of alcohol, concomitant drug use, regulatory environment), or interactions between these factors.

Just as it is valuable for a doctor to know that a patient's medical history includes familial breast cancer, thus calling for vigilance for early cancer signs, a patient aware of his genotype could inform his doctor that he may be a poor drug metabolizer, which might guide the doctor in determining drug dosage and foreseeing possible adverse drug reactions.

http://www.slate.com/id/2198731/

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Permalink Reply by Chris Kolba's Fit to Live on September 13, 2008 at 2:09pm

The new topic in nutrition is nutrigenomics. The are already working on this at harvard. They will soon be able to determine a individual prescription for diet based on your genotype. A simple finger stick will do the trick. Not sure how far away it is from mainstream but the idea makes sense and is very interesting.
Chris

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Permalink Reply by Amelia on September 13, 2008 at 4:45pm

I find it fascinating.
Makes me wonder though, if the drugs I've been taking in the rescribed does, have been tested on ppl of my ethnicity. Suppose I supposed to be taking more? Or less for it to work or work effectively?