You get a lot from your parents. From how you look to what type of personality you have to how long you’ll live. Pretty much everything about a person can be attributed, in part, to genetics. And while you can’t change your parents, you may be able to change your genes, sort of.
DNA and Your Genes
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) contains your genetic, or hereditary material. You get your genes, and DNA, from your biological parents- one copy from each parent. It’s like a family recipe passed on from generation to generation. In this case, DNA is a recipe for how your body works. More specifically, DNA is segmented into genes that are the code for your body to make proteins for things such as muscle and hormones.
It’s estimated each person has between 20 000-30 000 genes. The exact number isn’t known for sure, but it’s a lot. The number and type of genes are essentially the same from person to person. That’s crucial, because we all need a heart, brain and many other functions to keep us alive. In fact, the difference in genes between people is extremely small, about <0.001%. And it’s even smaller between those who are related. But these small differences are why no two people are the exact same.
A Primer on Epigenetics
While DNA may (slightly) differ from person to person, within each person, the same genes are found in almost every cell in your body. But not all genes are used in each cell. Or all the time. Genes are regulated within your cells depending on their purpose. Similar to lights in a house, in which you can turn them on and off as you need them. For example, the many genes active in your eyes differ from genes active in your heart.
Now having certain genes turned on in some cells and not in other cells is perfectly normal and needed for your body to function. This area of science is referred to as epigenetics. And epigenetics focuses on modifications that determine whether your genes are active or not. The most common modification is the result of a tag-like molecule (methyl group) attaching to your DNA. When this tag attaches to your DNA it can ‘turn off’ some of your genes. This is similar to someone putting their hand over a light switch to prevent it from being turned on. And these tags can be inherited from your parents and occur throughout your life based. Not all tags are permanent. In some cases, demethylation can occur, usually resulting in a gene being turned back on.
Epigenetic Changes
Epigenetic changes to one’s genes (or DNA) can occur as a result of age and environmental exposure. With age, the amount and location of tags on your genes changes. Overall, these methyl tags decrease with age. But, certain areas of DNA undergo what’s called hypermethylation, in which the number of tags increases. It’s believed these changes can be used to determine your biological age- indications that your cells are ageing. To this end, some researchers have developed epigenetic clocks. From this, research has emerged to look at how age-related epigenetic changes can be reversed through lifestyle to increase lifespan.
Food and Epigenetics
Early studies in nutrition focused on diets during pregnancy and how that affected the health of offspring. Studies in animals indicate diet-induced obesity before pregnancy can lead to epigenetic modifications in offspring, which may increase risk factors for heart disease and obesity. Similar connections in people have been found between obesity during pregnancy and child obesity. Poor nutrition during pregnancy can also have an impact. Children born during the Dutch Famine had a greater risk of obesity and heart disease in later life. And their children also had a greater risk for obesity. It’s believed the generational link may be due to an inheritable aspect that may be related to epigenetic tags.
It’s a challenge to study epigenetics in human as the methylation tags are often tissue specific and thus requiring tissue samples from various organs in the body. But studies looking at diets and epigenetics have found that healthier eating (fruits and vegetables with little highly processed foods) is associated with slower epigenetic ageing.
Exercise and Epigenetics
Exercise may reduce methylation tags from forming in areas essential for being active. Older men who were lifelong exercisers had fewer tags on their genes involved in metabolism and muscle function, compared to men who were inactive. Similar findings have been reported in women and the benefit from exercise appears to be greater with older age. And greater fitness levels have been associated with a younger epigenetic profile, while inactivity led to an older looking profile.
As these tags can be inherited, exercise in women may impact the genes of their children. Women who are active during pregnancy have children who tend to have improved motor control as infants and lower risk for obesity and heart disease, even into adulthood. It’s believed some of these changes are due to fewer tags inherited from the mother to the child. Indeed, women who were more active during pregnancy had children with fewer tags on a gene associated with lower birth weight.
While it’s still true you can’t change your DNA, healthy eating and regular exercise can keep your genes (and you) looking and feeling younger.
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