I’ve heard this said many times…
Sadly, disease X runs in my family. I am likely to get it too.
How do you know?
Well, several relatives all have X, a sibling, cousin, parent, grandparent, etc.
This may be where your story starts, but it is not where it ends.
What if having the same chronic health conditions in common with our extended family members was not as much about heredity and genes running in our family as it was about what we ate together at our family’s dining table growing up (and ever since)?
What if, by making different food and lifestyle choices starting today, we could change how our genes expressed themselves and break those family disease patterns for good?
Epigenetics
When I first read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., I was interested to learn about the connection between our genes and our diet. While our genes and our environment may load the proverbial gun, our lifestyle pulls the trigger and is responsible for up to 80% of the resulting health impact. Our genes and DNA actually change based on what we eat.
Wait, how is that possible?
We inherit our genes from our parents. Genes are made up of DNA that contain instructions to build molecules, mostly protein-based, in order to help the body function. They’re found on chromosomes inside cells. Changes in underlying genes occur only over tens of thousands of years through evolution. Our genes are where our story begins. However, the expression of the information within our genes changes rapidly and is affected by our environment and lifestyle.
How we choose to live actually changes that expression throughout our lifetime, turning genes on and off and sometimes causing them to mutate. Even identical twins, who arguably have the most DNA in common, express their DNA differently as they age. The Pima Indians are genetically very similar but have two tribes with distinct lifestyle differences, one eating traditional foods in Mexico and the other in Arizona eating the Standard American diet. They started with the same genes but have had very different health outcomes. The opposite is also true. Spouses tend to have more chronic health conditions in common than adult siblings who share DNA but no longer live together. You are what you eat.
Heredity is only part of our legacy
Each generation’s lifestyle choices can have lingering effects. As our cells divide, mutations can occur. Those errors can lead to abnormal gene activity and promote changes to gene expression that underlie several aging-related diseases including cancer and heart disease. And these changes may be inherited by generations to come.
What our parents ate before we were born matters. Children born to the same mother after 100-pound weight loss compared to those born earlier had lower rates of inflammation and were 3x less at risk of developing severe obesity. Our daughters are born with all their eggs in place. That means that your grandchild, who may not yet be born, is already carrying your legacy DNA based on your genetic expression from back when your own daughter was born.
Our diet choices help to reverse aging
As we age, our levels of DNA methylation, the epigenetic key to turning on genes that lead to good health and off genes that lead to poor health, decreases. However, studies show that diet made up of whole plant-based foods, can actually reverse DNA damage. Our body experiences approximately 800 incidents of DNA damage per hour. The good news is – Not all DNA damage is permanent.
Even as we age, our bodies repair our DNA all the time. Lifestyle changes have been shown to reverse damaging epigenetic changes. For example, former smokers have seen an increase in their methylation.
There are some genes, like APOE4, that may predispose family members to specific health conditions such as Alzheimer’s. About 15% of the US population has at least 1 APOE4 gene, with an increased disease risk of 3x. For the 2% with both parents passing down that gene, the disease risk is increased to 9x. Since APOE4 is the principal cholesterol carrier protein in the brain, it makes sense that our lifestyle choices can and do make a difference. In fact, for those at the highest risk but with the right lifestyle changes by eating a low-fat plant-based diet, the disease risk is reduced back down to 2x. The science shows that with the right lifestyle changes, even with APOE4 genes coming from both parents, the risks can be greatly reduced and the gene is much less likely to ever be expressed.
Plant-Based foods repair DNA
Results from the Adventist Health Study-2 show that DNA methylation patterns were better among vegans in the study. Plant-based dietary choices including specific foods such as turmeric, lemon, broccoli, kiwi, apples, etc. have been shown to help the body repair damage.
Other plant-based foods have been linked to reduced risk of cancer. Green tea polyphenols decrease the risk of certain hormonal cancers like breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic, among others. Resveratrol found in red grapes and blueberries promotes DNA methylation and decreased tumor cell growth. Phytonutrients have been shown to improve our cellular defenses against damage and even help our DNA recover.
This also may explain why diet recommendations based on DNA testing may not be of much value since the expression of our genes is always changing. A study that followed more than 600 overweight adults for a period of 12 months found that a genotype eating approach was not “associated with the dietary effects of weight loss.” And DNA diets that suggest that 70% of factors tied to body weight are tied to your genes don’t appear to prove out in the results. DNA diets prescribed based on genes found no significant difference over 12 months between groups in terms of weight loss.
Where and how you retire matters to your DNA
In February 2018, I attended the 7th International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition in Loma Linda California (a research event held every 5 years to discuss plenary work from research being done worldwide). One of the panel discussions that stood out for me was a researcher discussing the future of personalized DNA diets. The next presenter showed the science about the outcomes, and that your zip code (as a placeholder for lifestyle) had much more of an impact on your actual results and risks than DNA (access to fresh unprocessed food, a community of like-minded health-conscious friends, good dining options for eating out, places to walk, etc.). He also compared his diet and lifestyle findings to Dr. Campbell’s research about lifestyle pulling the trigger. By the way, Dt. Campbell continues to advocate for the importance of knowing how to control our gene expression through our lifestyle choices.
So, in addition to eating plant-based colorful foods at home, finding a healthy community for a healthy lifestyle is a plus. Even if you are staying put in retirement, encouraging friends to join in your plant-based lifestyle, and together enjoy recipes, walks, and local restaurants that serve whole plant-based food may just be what the doctor ordered.
