Sorry I wanted to change the thread, but I know Cheri doesn't like us removing the subject line so I responded under Coelho. My uncle and aunt had an Rh factor issue but they corrected that being in this country and had six so called "blue babies" and they are now in their 40/50's with no problems as yet. Diabetes I feel is prevalent there because of the sugar on that island. Both sides of my family had it, my grandmother passed away with it, a couple of aunts were blind because of it. It seems that no one coming down so far, cross our fingers, have it. My family members have a lot of health issues and some have passed on from it, including my mom and dad, but I don't think it's genetic at this point and time, I think it's environmental from this country even though they were born there. Linda
_____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of nancy jean baptiste Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 7:03 PM To: azores group Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Genetic deseases among Azorean population Greetings, When I first began researching my Azorean heritage it was to find physiological tendencies among the Azorean people. I first came across Machado Joseph disease aka stumbling disease. It seems to be mainly among Azoreans and Flores has one of the highest incidences but I remember that there had been at least 1 case in some one from Japan. It's been at least 6 years since I did that research and I'm sure there's much more info now. I do remember that the high incidence was attributed to the amount of inbreeding on Flores. I don't remember if Corvo also had the high amount although it would seem probable. I do know that in my own family, which has cousin marriages in several of my lines, most of my siblings and I inherited a "leaky mitral heart valve" from my Mother. All of my moms people were from Sao Jorge. There are 6 of us. There's also a prevalence of diabetes and lung cancer. The lung cancer is mainly in the women in my family and when I looked up my MTDNA it's one of the main types afflicted with lung cancer.Osteo arthritis has been horrible for the men in my family but not the women. Rh factor has killed quite a few babies in my family and I wonder how prevalent it is among Azoreans. This information doesn't make me fearful but rather I find it valuable information to use to my advantage. For instance, while I've never been too overweight the older I've become the heavier I've become....when I found my ggrandmother, Catarina Moreira Cabrals death record in Feb 2010 and found out she died at a fairly young age of diabetes, it gave me the incentive to drop 40 pounds in 1 years time. I would have remained complacent without that info. So, I do think knowing the tendencies of our ancestral health is very important! I didn't know about the bi-polar schizophrenia problem until I saw Debra's email and I find that very interesting to know. I think we can all benefit from this type of knowledge. Best regards to all, Nancy Jean Baptista researching: Sao Jorge for de Sousa Pereira, Texeira Baptista, da Silveira, Enos, Bettencourt, de Quadros, Vieira and Oliveira Pico for de Castro, Cardosa, Furtado, da Silva Faial for Abreu and Goulart Santa Maria for Cabral, Coelho, Moreira and Andrade -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
