Your Choices Matter

Over the years, I've discussed the process of epigenetics on several occasions in this column.  In case you've forgotten, epigenetics is really a more evolved perception and understanding of genetics.  In genetics, we get our genes from our parents and whatever hand we are dealt is what we get to live with throughout life.  Epigenetics says, yes, we do have genes passed to us from our parents (and their parents) but those genes can adapt and change based on what environment they are exposed to.  In epigenetics, we refer to the expression of our genes.  The scientific journals have been loaded with research on epigenetics over the last decade and I wanted to share some new discoveries with you this week.

Most of the medical researchers now believe that our genetics make up 20-30% of our outcomes when it comes to health versus disease, but that our lifestyle makes up the rest.  This concept that lifestyle will alter gene expression is the very definition of epigenetics.  Even though we may not always act like it, I believe we all have an understanding that what we eat, drink, and breathe into our lungs as well as how we exercise, sleep, and think has an impact as to whether we will develop diabetes, heart disease, cancer, or virtually every other disease.  I hope we recognize this to be true to ourselves – if we continually expose our bodies to a toxic environment, our genes will begin to adapt to that environment and the end result will be chronic illness.  That’s what happens to us, but what about future generations.  A recent article in the journal Science reported that yes, we truly are what we eat, but also that the nutrition of the parents, even before conception, will influence the health of future generations through changes in DNA.  Oops!  The study went on to show that exposure to excessive calories by a grandfather (before he started having children) is linked to increased risk of stroke and diabetes for his children and that this risk is passed on for multiple generations.  The scientists in the study explained that our DNA “remembers lifestyle insults.”  Other studies have suggested that these lifestyle factors involved in epigenetics affects 7-8 generations.  In our culture, we tend to believe it’s the mother who needs to stay healthy before and during pregnancy to ensure better development of the fetus.  However, studies like this one are showing that the father’s lifestyle and environmental factors before conception are more important than even that of the female.  For instance, we know that the father’s body mass will have a greater impact on the health of his children and a father who smokes is more likely to have kids with increased body mass.  Again, these are factors that are important even before the baby is conceived!

In our 8 Weeks to Wellness program, we teach that your life will begin to change when you recognize that your choices matter.  I hope this information drives this home to you.  Please recognize, that epigenetics goes both ways.  Not only will poor lifestyle change gene expression and have detrimental effects, but healthy lifestyle choices will improve DNA expression and result in genes that are driven to health and vitality.  In a very real sense, everything we eat, drink, and think is moving us (and our ancestry) either toward disease and away from health or hopefully our choices are moving us toward health and away from disease.