Southern Rising Summit 2024: You May Be Born With Something, But You Can Work On It, Says Anu Acharya

Southern Rising Summit 2024: She said that most of these conditions are preventable if we are adequately aware of the situation and know how and where to act so that it can be controlled

Southern Rising Summit 2024: At the ABP Southern Rising Summit 2024, Anu Acharya, CEO of Mapmygenome, spoke about how understanding yourself inside out is essential. She also talks about how people have the perception that if a disease or a certain behaviour runs in a family or genetics, as we call it, then it can not be cured.

She said that most of these conditions are preventable if we are adequately aware of the situation and know how and where to act so that the chronic conditions can be controlled. When it comes to these conditions, three major factors are involved: genetics, environment, and lifestyle. “To keep the conditions at bay, you can change your lifestyle and environment as what you are born with remains the same. You may be born with something, but there is always an ability to change because your actions and your decisions determine a large portion of what happens to you,” she said.

“We did a longevity test in India, where we looked at people who are over 90 years old. We found a fascinating gene that was there, associated with cardiovascular and neurological conditions, but habits make a huge difference. It was also found that women live longer; interestingly, short and stubborn women live longer,” she said.

While speaking at the event, she highlighted that it is crucial to find the primary cause to address the issue. She stressed that today, several tests can identify problems at the root cause, like the genetic level and tests that can even tell your organs' age. “Inherited genes don’t change, microbiomes don’t lie, and epigenome carries your truth,” she remarked.

Today, people get these tests done to find out different sets of information about themselves, like where they come from (about their ancestor's genes), and one of the other big reasons is to find out the effect of the diet they are following and why and how they are affecting their bodies. Another set of people is those who have some family history of diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular problems, or cancer, so they can assess their health early on and take preventive measures, said Acharya.