Question: Does ethnicity effect health or how the body functions at all?

Tatiana Trantidou answered on 17 Jun 2015:

Hi Lily,

yes, that’s right. Ethnicity does affect health. This is because our ancestry used to live in specific areas around the world and were more or less exposed to certain diseases and environmental changes. Some ethnicities are genetically more vulnerable to certain diseases or they are more likely to carry a specific gene mutation (change in their DNA). For example, scientists have found that Asians and Hispanics are likely to have a gene that causes a specific blood disease, called thalassemia. African americans have a higher risk to develop anemia (there are not enough healthy red blood cells).