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Readers of our Feb. 7 cover story on diet and genes had advice of their own. A 70-year-old's recipe for rich old age: "good genes... eat healthy... play tennis and hockey... have a happy marriage and a good attitude." Another reader hailed the onset of "a new era with [complementary] medicine."
Staying Healthy
Thanks for the great article "Diet & Genes" (Feb. 7). As someone in a health-related field--massage therapy--I have been advising clients to include turmeric in their diets to curb inflammation in muscle tissue. We're entering a new era of medicine in which complementary therapies are encouraged by many health plans and lifestyle changes like diet and exercise are being emphasized. We still have a long way to go. But some ancient medicinal sciences of Asia, such as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and ayurveda, come to many of the same conclusions as studies of conventional medicine. We need to integrate them into the Western world. The marriage of the two could do wonders: imagine going into your doctor's office to have your doshas assessed (ayurveda), your qi pulses taken (TCM), your heart rate monitored and your genes analyzed in one visit, and to leave with advice designed just for you. People should leave their doctors' offices feeling that they got recommendations truly tailored to their own bodies, minds and spirits.
Narangkar Khalsa
Oakland, California
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I read your Feb. 7 cover story with interest. I was blessed with good genes from my hardworking parents, but then it was up to me. I am 70, eat healthy meals and play tennis and hockey (in an over-40 league). I have not missed a game since 1988--485 games total. Best of all, I have had 45 years of happy marriage. I still practice law full time and go home by 5. It can all be done with luck and a good, positive attitude.
Bruno Colapietro
Endicott, New York
While I support scientific advancements in health and other areas, I question whether so much focus on helping people live longer emphasizes quantity over quality. As a theater director and actor, I greatly appreciated the article on creativity later in life ("Artful Aging"). Yet so many people suffer 40 or more years at jobs they can barely stand. Perhaps an apt question would be: how can fulfillment and enrichment be facilitated throughout one's life? If creativity has been proved to enhance both one's enjoyment of life and one's longevity, why are the creative process and creative expression, as an entity, undervalued in schools? Sure, people need the three R's to function in society, but if they live most of their lives helping 1 percent of the population get richer, who benefits?
Jonathan Bender
Boulder, Colorado
The only thing left out of the excellent "Diet & Genes" issue is the plight of those of us who are older than 70. I have been prescribed a new drug with a notation in the explanation sheet that it had not yet been tested on anyone in my age group. A warning was added that older people have greater sensitivity to medication, and that this drug should be prescribed with caution to seniors. I live in a high-rise where many residents are older than 80. For the most part we are still active, and aware of our growing sensitivity to drugs. There are hundreds more of us in America. We feel as if we are being neglected by the medical community, and we wonder what is going to happen when the baby boomers turn 70.
Mary A. Proudfoot
Pueblo, Colorado
Research on specific nutrient-gene interactions makes for fascinating and needed science. But many of the details of nutritional genomics have been understood by biochemists for decades, and this knowledge can be applied in a straightforward way to benefit all people. For example, we need B vitamins to make and repair all genes and to regulate the behavior of many of them, such as to suppress cancer-promoting genes in a process called methylation. But because of extensive food processing, the typical diet often does not provide adequate amounts of these nutrients. Outright and marginal nutrient deficiencies imperil the health of our genes.
Jack Challem
Tucson, Arizona
The Tsunami's Toll
Much of the death and destruction caused by the tsunami could apparently have been prevented if two natural protections had remained intact--coral reefs and the mangrove trees that used to grow along the water's edge ("After the Tsunami," Jan. 10). Jeff McNeely, chief scientist of the Swiss-based World Conservation Union, has observed that "when a tsunami comes in, it first hits the coral reef, which slows it down, then it hits the mangroves, which further slow it down. It may get through that, but by then a lot of the energy has already been dissipated." What happened to these natural defenses? It would seem that our endless desire for "progress" bears responsibility. For years tourist hotels, beaches and shrimp ponds have been built on the water's edge, damaging coral reefs and uprooting mangroves. With aid pouring in and rebuilding planned, I hope the affected countries, along with the United States, hoping to prevent a recurrence, will sit down with scientists and environmental experts who can craft a plan to help nature provide its own protections against itself.
Patricia J. Sadowski
Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
Colin Powell described the earthquake- and tsunami-ravaged areas as a "disaster beyond compare." That said, was it not unseemly and inappropriate to spend $40 million on George W. Bush's second-term Inauguration festivities? America's "compassionate conservative" president could have sent a powerful and generous message to the world by asking his supporters to redirect their Inaugural donations to more-worthy humanitarian causes both at home and abroad.
David Cook
Concord, Massachusetts
The devastating Asian tsunami inevitably gives rise to the question, is nature amoral, evil or good? Is it an indicator of God's wrath on mankind, or is it an independent natural force? Though we may never be able to answer these questions, one thing is certain: we depend on nature for survival. Without rain or sunshine we would not have the food or water necessary to survive on earth. Such calamities as earthquakes, tidal waves, floods, mudslides and volcanic eruptions are the price mankind has to pay for living on this planet.
Kenneth L. Zimmerman
Huntington Beach, California
When one Israeli is injured, president Bush hurries to call it a "great tragedy," but when more than 200,000 Asians suddenly die, he says nothing for three days?
Khaled Salman
Copenhagen, Denmark
The news media, including NEWSWEEK, were quick to take President Bush and his administration to task for their "slow" response to the tsunami disaster. Turns out the United States has been extremely generous in terms of money, personnel, supplies and equipment. It is interesting to note that aid to the disaster victims from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Libya, Brunei and other Muslim countries or organizations like the Palestinian Authority and Al Qaeda have been slow in coming and does not come close to Western assistance. Don't these countries and entities care about their brethren in their time of need?
David E. Nelson
Manchester, Connecticut
Sibling Rivalry
In response to your Jan. 3 article "Trouble in the Family," regarding the much-publicized split between the Ambani brothers, it is well to remember that when one thinks of Mukesh Ambani, the first words that come to mind are "rampant ambition." It is all very well to couch ambition and greed in noble words such as "radical initiatives" and "turning India into an economic powerhouse." The fact remains that Mukesh Ambani wants complete control, absolute authority and unquestioned command over the Reliance empire.
Hetal Parikh
Mumbai, India
The war between the Ambanis is an example of sibling rivalry at its most vitriolic, with elder brother Mukesh Ambani's sole aim being to oust his younger sibling Anil at all costs. You speak of Mukesh's "obsession with building Reliance into a world leader." But he also has an unquenchable thirst for power, singlehanded control and a burning ambition to be emperor of all things Reliance. So let us identify the elder Ambani for what he really is: a powermonger who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
Ramesh Balakrishnan
Delhi, India
The Agony of War Victims
Congratulations on publishing the picture that accompanied "Free to Be Angry" (Jan. 31). It should be printed on the front page of every newspaper as proof that the wanton killing of people is terrorism--not a war against terrorism. The agony that the children in this picture were shown to be suffering still haunts me. When millions of us demonstrated in London against war in Iraq, it was an example of how ordinary people think far ahead of their elected representatives. To bring such an idea into the political arena isn't easy even in a democracy.
Mary Crowther
Fakenham, England
An Embattled Minority
The article "Getting Up To Speed" (Nov. 29, 2004) mentioned a military action to guard stores and businesses from looters and "Gypsy rioters." The term "Gypsy," used to designate a minority population living in many European nations, is considered derogatory, as it conjures up stereotypes--that Gypsies are thieves who live as nomads. The minority in Slovakia prefers the name Roma, meaning "man" in Romany dialects. They live in settlements outside villages without running water or electricity, and suffer institutional discrimination that limits access to health care and education and societal discrimination that makes it hard to break the cycle of poverty. Distinguishing between Roma and Gypsy shows an understanding that this nationless minority has battled discrimination for centuries and still faces many of the same challenges in the 21st century that it did in the 17th.
Kathy McEnany
via Internet
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