The Editor, Sir: Why is it so hard to believe that a high
percentage of persons born from a genetic pool with certain
physical attributes will not dominate? Jamaicans are
predominantly of West African ancestry. Approximately 98 per
cent of West Africans have the RR or RX copy of the Actinin
three gene associated with sprinting dominance. Jamaicans are
built for short explosive running. They are heavier than the
East Africans. You need to be light weight to be able to
maximise your oxygen or respiration efficiency over any
sustained distance. Since we are genetically predisposed to be
dominant at sprinting, when the right environment is created,
the genes will be switched on and we will excel at the Olympics.
This interaction of the gene and the environment is called Gene
Environmental Interaction (GXE). The same goes for diabetes, if
you inherited the genes from your parents and you eat fatty
foods and do not exercise, the diabetes will be manifested. In
some families, the manifestation is so great that it is