BY DONYA CURRIE

If a vegetarian triathlete drops dead of a heart attack at 50, should he have slowed down and eaten more burgers? And if a two-pack-a-day, fat couch potato lives to his 90th birthday, does that mean longevity is all in the genes?

As science unlocks more of the genetic mystery that leads some people's families to have higher rates of heart disease and other health problems, health experts still tell us we hold much of our lives in our own hands.

Sure, the genetic cards each person is dealt at birth have something to do with his likelihood of being chubby, developing allergies and even dying at a young age. Yet research continues to support the idea that a healthy, long life is linked more to lifestyle than genes.

"I think the real important point to make is that it's a combination of both," said Dr. Tony Fiore, a family practitioner with the multi-specialty group at Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center. "You can't say, 'Hey, everybody lives to 95 in my family, so I can smoke and eat unhealthy and I'll still live long.' You can't rely on 'healthy genes' to be a get-out-of-jail-free card.

"On the flip side of that coin, if everybody in your family's got diabetes and heart disease, you don't have to go down that path," Fiore said. "The hand that's dealt to you doesn't have to decide your future. You can make it worse or better for you with the choices you make in your life."

WHAT YOU CONTROL

There's no magic formula for living to a ripe old age and being able to dance the tango while getting there, but just having a family tree thick with health woes doesn't mean a happy life is out of reach.

"We can't pick our parents," said local cardiologist Dr. Robert Vranian. "But we as individuals and a society have the opportunity to make choices that can promote a healthy life that can actually be quite pleasurable."

Those choices include how we eat, exercise, sleep and relate to our fellow human beings. As Am-ericans' waistlines have expanded, rates of heart disease, diabetes and cancer have gone up, too. But it isn't just poor diet that is plaguing us.