Changing Your Genes With Lifestyle

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Spiritual/Emotional, Sports, Supplements, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | (0) Comments

Another study has shown just how important lifestyle is to health. The really big news here is that lifestyle changes can actually alter the way your genes work (gene expression) and thus reverse a predisposition to things like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. This is really important news since many people have a sense of genetic nihilism that says “it’s in my genes and I can’t do anything about it”. Very interesting stuff- From Newsweek-

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Here’s some very good news: your genes are not your destiny.  Earlier this week, my colleagues and I published the first study showing that improved nutrition, stress management techniques, walking, and psychosocial support actually changed the expression of over 500 genes in men with early-stage prostate cancer.  This study was conducted at the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and the University of California…

The changes included a plant-based diet (predominant fruits, vegetables, legumes, soy products, and whole grains low in refined carbohydrates), moderate exercise (walking 30 minutes per day), stress management techniques (yoga-based stretching, breathing techniques, meditation, and guided imagery for one hour per day), and participating in a weekly one-hour support group.  The diet was supplemented with soy, fish oil (three grams/day), vitamin E (100 units/day), selenium (200 mg/day), and vitamin C (2 grams/day).  These lifestyle changes are described more fully in my book, The Spectrum.  

…After three months, we repeated the biopsy and looked at changes in normal tissue within the prostate.  We found that many disease-promoting genes (including those associated with cancer, heart disease, and inflammation) were down-regulated or “turned off,” whereas protective, disease-preventing genes were up-regulated or “turned on.”

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