HEALTH NEWS -

Bad food in moderation is still bad and can modify your genes negatively

 

 

New study finds that even tiny bits of the wrong food can activate or deactivate certain genes.

 

SCIENCE DAILY:  Sometimes you just can't resist a tiny piece of chocolate cake. Even the most health-conscious eaters find themselves indulging in junk foods from time to time. New research by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) raises the striking possibility that even small amounts of these occasional indulgences may produce significant changes in gene expression that could negatively impact physiology and health.

 

Experimenting with different diets for the worm C. Elegans they noticed that each elicited the expression of different genes, affecting the physiology and health of the worm. 

 

SD: These findings suggest the existence of a genetic regulatory network that facilitates rapid responses to internal physiological and external environmental cues in order to maintain a metabolic balance in the worm.

 

Interestingly, a similar phenomenon is involved in mutations that lead to inborn metabolic diseases in humans; classes of genetic diseases resulting from defects in genes that code for enzymes which help convert nutrients into usable materials in the cell. These diseases are usually treated by dietary interventions designed to avoid build-up of toxins and to supplement patients with metabolites that may be depleted.

 

It may be possible to use this genetic regulatory network in C. elegans to compare how certain dietary regimens can be used to mitigate these metabolic diseases. It may also be used to screen for drugs or other small molecules that can produce the same results as dietary treatments.

Read more:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130328125102.htm

 

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In other words, we are what we eat, and there is no such thing as "Bad stuff in moderation is OK".

 

Moshe Szyf and Michael Meaney published their research on epigenetics in 2005. They demonstrated that the expression of individual genes can be permanently altered by diet and the emotional and physical environment that surrounds us. These altered genes can be passed on to your offspring. 

 

This is a fascinating subject that can touch issues such as how poverty, toxins and abuse can alter a person's genes.  On the other hand, a healthy change of environment and diet can also produce positive genetic change. That's human resilience.

Here is a bit more on the work of Moshe Szyf and epigenetics:

Even how we behave towards one another could affect treatment or prevention strategies. Szyf suggests that, as with child abuse, behaviours such as bullying might cause physical damage to the epigenome (which controls the differential expression of genes in specific cells), so we need to be more sensitive and responsible in our social interactions. This is particularly critical because research shows that epigenetic changes, whether beneficial or harmful, can be passed on to future generations.

http://www.camhcrosscurrents.net/archives/summer2008/nature_nurture.html

EPIGENETICS = Beyond genes
The study of changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype, caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence – hence the name epi- (Greek: επί- over, above, outer) -genetics, some of which are heritable. (Wikipedia)