Epigenetics: Owning Your Body
November 1, 2009
As the complex and fascinating field of epigenetics unfolds, scientists are discovering that our long held beliefs about health, cancer and genetic determinism are wavering. While the headlines persist in identifying various genes as the cause of specific cancers, chronic illnesses and disorders, research detailing how these genes express has given rise to the age-old question of free will. Are the genes actually set on an immutable course that begins in childhood?
The widely held belief that gene determinism rules us begins when we're born.
The newborn baby, already a spitting image, is physically compared to both mother and father. But will the innocuous resemblance of lips, nose and hair color turn more grave and serious as the child develops? Is she bound to inherit grandma's eczema or mom's Celiac disease? Will dad's bout with colon cancer seal her fate? If these ailments elude her but eventually manifest in her younger brother, why will they have afflicted him and not her?
While babies are born with genetic mutations that characterize Down's syndrome or cystic fibrosis, genes that allegedly mutate over time, like cancer cells, may not be the inevitable outcome of a pre-determined trigger. Epigenetics is the study of heritable traits and how they change without changes in the DNA sequence. Like chemical switches turning gene expression on or off, epigenetic changes are responses to the environment.
Imagine thoughts, diets, lifestyles, stress management and exercise having a major impact on gene function. In this fluctuating paradigm, a healthy or impaired body, which has been viewed traditionally as the outcome of genetic fate, is the result of conscious choices and decisions. And that result is never a fixed end in and of itself.
"Our lifestyles and environment can change the way our genes are expressed, leading even identical twins to become distinct as they age."
Epigenomics, a related field of study, focuses on epigenetic changes across a wide range of genes in an organism or cell. In January of 2008, The National Institutes of Health announced its investment of $190 million over a five-year period in the research of epigenomics. According to NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., "Disease is about more than genetics. It's about how genes are regulated — how and when they work in both health and disease." What makes these claims so fundamental is that they compel us to reconsider our most basic concepts about who we are, how we develop and how we age. If we believe that poor health is something that gets inflicted on us, we may feel less inclined to curb certain habits. If, on the other hand, we believe the converse, we may feel more inspired to start new routines.
Likewise, therapies can become more personalized as health care professionals think less broadly about a certain gene expressing a certain outcome and more specifically about how an individual's reactions, habits, routines, home life and workplace can affect gene function.
While epigenetics creates a much larger overview of each individual biological picture, making our changing bodies increasingly complex, it also suggests that each of us is more customizable in terms of maintaining health and responding to various healing practices. There are indeed plenty of ways to stay on track and to get back on track if diagnosed with an illness that has a genetic component. Mom and Dad's genes may be sweet and loving (at least the good attributes), but when those genes are less than appealing they're not ironclad armor. NewsSip
Photo Credit: Carolineee1991
