Thanksgiving Day is National Family Health History Day

SANTA FE, N.M- The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) joins the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in encouraging New Mexico families to take time this Thanksgiving holiday to discuss your family's health history.

National Family Health History Day was created in hopes of sparking the important conversations that don't always happen in families but are always useful for understanding health risks and preventing disease in for ourselves and our close relatives.

"With all our technology today, sometimes the best way of preventing future health risks is a simple conversation," said NMDOH Cabinet Secretary Lynn Gallagher. "Knowing our family health history is still the gold standard for knowing our personal health risks now and in years to come.

According to the CDC, most people have a family health history of at least one chronic disease, such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. If you have a close family member with a chronic disease, you may be more likely to develop that disease yourself, especially if more than one close relative has (or had) the disease or a family member got the disease at a younger age than usual.

Remember, having a family health history with negative health diagnoses does not mean that you or your family members will definitely have the same illness, but it is important that you talk with your doctor about steps that you can take to lower your chances of having the same illness too.

For more information on National Family Health History Day visit https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/famhistory/index.htm.

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