The study of the DNA is merely past 50 years old only but the discoveries that were done using this strand of an organism have lead to some really interesting studies. One of them is how a mother rat's groom of her offspring can determine the activation or silencing of various genes on the brain and how this seemingly outward activity can change the behavior of the mouse when it grows up. However, even with this hype of manipulating the genes, there are still very little studies on how behavior can manipulate the genes and there were studies that show that diet and smoking can actually alter genes.
The study of how the genes change is called epigenetics. Or course this is no radical change in the genetic sequence. A lot of scientists are lukewarm about this study since most of them are studying how genes can actually determine everything human. This study tells that the genes or the DNA is just the gateway to understanding the genetic traits. The craze for epigenetics has increased in the previous years with many publications and television shows as well as doctors saying that whatever you eat can determine the changes in the genes of a person. For a pregnant woman, it can also affect the baby with the turning off or on of the genes.
Before, there is the fear of epigenetics not being taken seriously since it has a high risk of getting over hyped. The great thing is that there are current studies that are establishing this discipline as a valid science. There was a study conducted revealing that the people who eat leafy and green veggies as well as taking folate and multivitamins can affect the genes and reduce the possibilities of getting lung cancer. In a study conducted to more than a thousand smokers and past smokers, they observed 8 particular genes and if they are off or in methylation, there is a higher risk of getting lung cancer.
Those people in the said diet consisting of greens, veggies, folate, vitamin C, carotenoids, folic acid, lutein as well as vitamins A and K can reduce the methylation of the DNA at around 20% and with the help of multivitamins, it could shrink to 50%. This study does not just appeal to occurrence of cancers but also heart diseases. For disease prevention, the studies and results offered by epigenetics might be more substantial compared to mere genetics.
The study of how the genes change is called epigenetics. Or course this is no radical change in the genetic sequence. A lot of scientists are lukewarm about this study since most of them are studying how genes can actually determine everything human. This study tells that the genes or the DNA is just the gateway to understanding the genetic traits. The craze for epigenetics has increased in the previous years with many publications and television shows as well as doctors saying that whatever you eat can determine the changes in the genes of a person. For a pregnant woman, it can also affect the baby with the turning off or on of the genes.
Before, there is the fear of epigenetics not being taken seriously since it has a high risk of getting over hyped. The great thing is that there are current studies that are establishing this discipline as a valid science. There was a study conducted revealing that the people who eat leafy and green veggies as well as taking folate and multivitamins can affect the genes and reduce the possibilities of getting lung cancer. In a study conducted to more than a thousand smokers and past smokers, they observed 8 particular genes and if they are off or in methylation, there is a higher risk of getting lung cancer.
Those people in the said diet consisting of greens, veggies, folate, vitamin C, carotenoids, folic acid, lutein as well as vitamins A and K can reduce the methylation of the DNA at around 20% and with the help of multivitamins, it could shrink to 50%. This study does not just appeal to occurrence of cancers but also heart diseases. For disease prevention, the studies and results offered by epigenetics might be more substantial compared to mere genetics.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Mike_John
No comments:
Post a Comment