EPIGENETICS EXPLAINED

At the forefront of radical well-being, let's define the new wellness wave that is epigenetics, uncover how it ties into life expectancy, and introduce how YOU can use it to feel good in your genes.

Understanding epigenetics at the most basic level first requires us to do one thing: question our outdated beliefs. As I’m sure you’ve learned in your high school biology class, we are traditionally taught the concept that our genes are our destiny. What our parents passed down to us is fixed – set in stone and unable to be changed. I mean, you can’t transform your eye color on the flip of a dime, right? Well in the age of epigenetics, we are beginning to realize that this sentiment is actually not true for the majority of our genetic blueprint. Although accurate that you can’t naturally change your eyes from icy blue to deep hazel in the next five minutes, we actually can change more of our personal traits than we previously thought. Scientists have recently discovered that only 5% or less of disease-related genes or mutations are fully deterministic – meaning very few of the genes that cause health issues are actually unchangeable. This leaves a whopping 95% of our disease-causing DNA open to change through the way they act. What enables our genes to be fluid, adaptable, and flexible in this way is what is now referred to as epigenetics – probably the most exciting discovery in the world of health right now.

Epigenetics is the study of our epigenome, or the biological modifications that turn our genes on and off, more specifically those actions which do not involve changes to the DNA sequence itself. For you science-savvy people, this basically means a change in phenotype without a change in genotype; modifications in gene expression that influence the way a gene works, and thus the way a trait is expressed. To put it lightly, the epigenome serves as a genetic switchboard in which our life experiences - what we do, how we view the world, and what we are exposed to in our environment, strongly influence the actual outcome of the genes we inherit.

Similar to a dimming light switch, your genes can be “turned on”, “turned off”, “turned down”, or “turned up” based on a myriad of influences that ultimately culminate to promote or delay disease progression.

Gimme an example.

To emphasize this point, let’s take a look at identical twins – living, breathing epigenetic posterchildren. Although they have the same genotype – that is, an identical DNA sequence - the way it is expressed can be very different based on how they experience the world. In fact, a recent study published in the journal Frontiers of Neuroscience demonstrated this very notion. In 2019 Chinese researchers investigated the contribution of environmental or lifestyle influences underlying the development of autism in two types of identical twins; identical pairs in which only one of the two were diagnosed with autism (referred to as discordant), as compared to identical twin pairs in which both received such diagnoses (otherwise known as concordant). Essentially, they sought out answers to the question: “how can one twin develop such a disorder, when they both have the same exact DNA sequence?”.

Their results? They found that the pairs in which only one individual was diagnosed with autism exhibited more environmentally influenced changes (manifested as DNA methylation markers) than the pairs in which both twins were diagnosed with autism. While identical in genetic makeup, the abundance of environmental/lifestyle differences displayed amongst these discordant twins accounted for the major difference in expression of the genes underlying an autism diagnosis.

Make it tangible.

We've never had more pills in human history, and yet we've never had this much chronic disease in history either...

I know, all of this science is cool and all, but I'm sure you're thinking, "why does this matter to me?". Our society's current view on healthcare was formed when infectious, communicable diseases were most prevalent - think smallpox, polio, those sorts of ancient diseases. Fast forward to present day, and most of these types of illnesses are eradicated, have a vaccine to prevent them, or have been diminished through proper waste management, disinfection, and food handling techniques. Instead, in its place is chronic disease - those lifestyle-related disorders that accumulate over time to produce a disease lasting at least three months or longer. Currently, disorders falling under this umbrella make up the majority of the top causes of death in America, claiming approximately 30.4 millions lives per year. These diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, are defined to be controllable with medications but not curable. So, if this definition is true, why, in a society that has more pills than ever before in human history, are we too seeing more chronic disease now, more than ever before?

The answer lies within our lifestyle. We are slowly eating ourselves to death, smoking ourselves to death, sitting ourselves to death....the list goes on. Human biology has not evolved to withstand the lifestyles we now adhere to - the chemically-altered "frankenfoods" that define the Dollar Menu, the dopamine rollercoaster we ride with every like and retweet - yet, lucky for us, epigenetics may be the light at the end of the chronic disease tunnel. It's beginning to show us just how these radically altered environments, as compared to the natural, unindustrialized habitats of our ancestors, have changed the expression of the genes that drive the progression of disease. Better yet, at the same time, it's slowly uncovering how we can prevent this too.

The dawn of this new scientific age allows us now, more than ever before, to reclaim control over our health. So if you find yourself asking why you're always tired, why you get stomach aches out of nowhere, or where these damn mood swings are coming from, you've come to the right place. Using epigenetics, nutrigenomics, and other fun health & wellness topics, The Decode Project will slowly but surely educate you how to feel good in your genes.