Epigenetics: How to control your genes
If your father had a heart attack in his 50s, it’s normal to worry and think “Will that happen to me too?”
So much of who we would turn out to be appears to be written in the genes we inherit from our parents. Each cell in our body holds about 25,000 to 35,000 genes in its nucleus, every one containing threads of DNA wrapped around special proteins called histones. Our genes influence not only our appearance and intelligence but also our health. The most common diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and obesity are heavily influenced by our genes.
But have our genes already decided our fate? Is our health out of our control? Certainly not!
The truth is that so much of our health is our control. It’s absolutely possible to change our genetic destiny! Genes might load the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger.
Of course, we can’t change our genetics. But we can influence our genes and how they express themselves by how we eat, move and live. Our lifestyle and circumstances can change the way our genes are utilized by our body, a process known as gene expression. By changing our environment, we can switch our genes on or off, and choose to keep them functioning at a specified level.
We can override our ancestral genetic heritage!
It is estimated that our genes account for only around 10% of disease and environmental influences account for the other 90%. The good news is that our environment is largely in our control. How empowering!
So how does our environment alter our genes? Via Epigenetics!
“epi- What?”
Epigenetics is the study of how behavioral and environmental changes can cause changes in the way your genes work, without altering the genetic code itself. Conrad H. Waddington, a British geneticist at Cambridge University, coined the term in 1942. Epigenetics emerged in the mainstream in the mid-1980s to describe heritable traits not solely related to our DNA inherited at birth.
It is useful to learn more about epigenetics to discover how genes interact with our health. Life-changing genetic events happen because of epigenetic changes in our lifestyle, diet and environment. This explains why stem cell research, cloning, ageing, and synthetic biology have become popular areas of study in recent times.
The Expression of our Genes
Our genetic code tells our body which proteins to make, how to produce them, and how much to generate. On a very basic level, the code depends on a combination of the following chemicals:
- Adenine (A)
- Cytosine (C)
- Guanine (G) and
- Thymine (T).
These chemicals are called nucleotide bases. The A, C, G, T are the core components of DNA, the full term for which is deoxyribonucleic acid. The position of these letters in the genetic code is extremely important, because the A, C, G, T that appear in our DNA dictates which proteins are produced.
Food and the environment are among the many factors that affect the placement of these chemicals in our genetic code. In our modern world, there are several influences that can alter epigenetic patterns and trigger change on a genetic level. Over time, this can lead to mutation which is the main cause for the civilisation diseases we see in the world today.
- Diet
- Nutrition
- Toxins
- Obesity
- Exercise
- Smoking
- Alcohol and drug consumption
- Environmental pollutants
- Psychological and emotional stress
- Lifestyle
- Employment factors (including shiftwork and working nights)
While harmful factors can result in destructive or faulty gene expression, good habits can lead to beneficial changes. The key point is that we can control our genes and alter our protein production by regulating epigenetics! This is essentially how we can – and must! – take control over our genetic environment and start growing a new healthy body!
The Biocellular Upgrade programme has been specifically designed and developed to offer you a state-of-the-art protocol to transform your physical and cognitive health on the cellular level. Rooted in modern cell biology, our principles have been clinically tested to offer a unified formula to heal the human body. Through this life-changing programme, you will learn how to eliminate hazardous environmental exposure from your cells and DNA, how to switch off the genes causing disease, and how to activate the essential genes to clean, repair, and grow a new healthy body.
Article by Louie
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