Life experiences can alter the makeup of our genes through epigenetics. These changes can have long-term ramifications on health as well as being passed along to subsequent generations.
Diet, exercise and environmental factors may alter DNA methylation patterns that combine with genetic mutations to increase disease risk. Epigenetic modifications that take place during gestation may also have lifelong repercussions.
Diet
Our genes are like an empty sheet of music: they contain all of the instructions we need for an exquisite symphony to take shape – but until we play it – express it – they remain dormant. Throughout life, however, our bodies continually adjust this program code, known as epigenetics (or the way to read a gene), to suit our daily experiences, habits, and environment.
Dietary components have long been recognized to alter epigenetic markers, particularly DNA methylation, histone modifications and microRNA expression. Such epigenetic changes have been associated with chronic inflammation, metabolic disorders and cancer.
Epigenetic effects are not permanent and reversible, making it important to keep this in mind when creating a healthy diet plan. An epigenetic diet revolves around selecting foods which encourage positive gene expression while decreasing disease risk. Consuming foods rich in antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables may help fend off cancer by positively impacting epigenetic mechanisms. Polyphenols, found in green tea and cruciferous vegetables, have long been recognized to alter DNA methyltransferases and histone modifiers, potentially reversing epigenetic aberrations associated with cancer. Selenium also influences DNA and histone methylation processes while possessing anticarcinogenic properties.
Physical activity has an equally profound effect on epigenetics as diet. Exercise has been found to cause beneficial epigenetic changes that support health while decreasing disease risks; conversely, living an inactive lifestyle may result in negative epigenetic modifications that contribute to disease risk.
Implementing epigenetic intervention plans presents unique challenges, particularly with respect to patient compliance with diet and physical activity guidelines. Education on their benefits as well as devising personalized plans which motivate patients are key parts of successful implementation plans, along with an awareness that different individuals respond differently to similar interventions resulting in varied results. It is best practice for interventions which incorporate both diet and exercise and are easily tailored according to lifestyle, preferences, genetic background.
Exercise
Your body’s genetic instructions are stored in DNA, but their expression depends on your habits and environment, including diet, exercise, stress management techniques, sleep habits, smoking and alcohol consumption – factors which all play a part in how epigenetics works in shaping our biochemistry and physiology.
Your genes are controlled by fundamental chromatin protein structures–including DNA core and histone proteins–that wrap around your genome, such as histone proteins composing chromatin. These structures regulate how often and when your genes turn on or off; their histone proteins also have the capacity to add chemical modifications to basic amino acid residues in order to influence gene transcription as well as which ones get translated into functional proteins.
DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification commonly employed to silence genes by disrupting transcriptional activity and inhibiting their transcriptional activity. Excessive hypermethylation often appears in cancer-related genes’ promoter regions and prevents their expression. Physical exercise has been proven to decrease and reverse this type of hypermethylation pattern, activating more tumor suppressor genes to activate and lower cancer risks overall.
Exercise epigenetics has recently revealed an array of epigenetic changes in multiple tissues and cell types as a result of both endurance and resistance training (Fig. 1). These include histone methylation changes, DNA methylation shifts, non-coding RNA expression patterns and non-coding RNA gene transcription rates – suggesting specific systemic signaling mechanisms are involved to ensure appropriate physiological adaptations to each exercise modality (see figure below).
An emerging field of study involves exploring the impact of metabolites on epigenetics and exercise adaptations. Metabolites have long been recognized for being rate limiting to epigenetic modification reactions or directly regulating epigenetic modifiers’ activity; understanding their relationships will give invaluable insight into improving and optimizing current exercise protocols for both health benefits and efficacy.
As we increase our understanding of epigenetics and lifestyle and health, new tools will emerge that can assist us in understanding how genes interact with environmental and other factors to determine your individual phenotype. This knowledge will allow for personalized plans designed to assist people make healthy lifestyle decisions that maximize innate abilities while mitigating any detrimental genetic traits, in order to improve health outcomes and outcomes.
Stress
Stress is a natural part of living that happens when our body experiences perceived threats to survival. To maintain homeostasis, our body attempts to increase metabolic rate, blood pressure and heart rate; but too much stress may have harmful repercussions, leading to diseases like cancer, diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.
Stressful situations have the ability to negatively influence multiple body systems, including immunity, nervous and endocrine systems as well as biochemical changes such as DNA methylation and altered gene expression. Studies suggest that stress may alter these biological processes from parent to offspring — known as transgenerational stress inheritance.
Lifestyle factors, including diet, exercise, sleep and stress have an enormous influence on epigenetics. Therefore, healthcare practitioners must include their patient’s diet, exercise routine, stress levels and environmental exposures as part of their assessments and care plans to prevent and treat chronic disease effectively.
Education about epigenetics is crucial, as this will empower patients to make lifestyle changes that positively influence gene expression and lower disease risks. Furthermore, teaching stress management techniques like meditation, deep breathing exercises, journal writing or spending time in nature is beneficial as this will encourage patients to make changes that benefit both themselves and the planet.
Implementation of epigenetic-based interventions in clinical practice presents many unique challenges. Diet and exercise modifications necessary for epigenetic health can be difficult to incorporate into daily life; furthermore, making these changes requires ongoing effort over an extended period. It is therefore crucial that practitioners craft approaches which are sustainable for patients in order to ensure adherence.
Functional medicine provides an effective platform for implementing epigenetic strategies in healthcare. A personalized nutritional and wellness plan can be created based on an individual’s genetic and epigenetic profile; this can then be tailored specifically to their needs by emphasizing foods known to have positive epigenetic impacts such as cruciferous vegetables, berries, green tea, garlic and turmeric – foods associated with reduced disease risks and greater longevity.
Environment
People tend to see our genes as providing instructions for building our bodies and minds, like an instruction book with predetermined instructions for how they will develop. But in truth, genes function more like sheet music – only being able to play their musical notes when present conditions allow.
Experiences leave behind chemical “traces” on our genes, impacting whether or not those genes are turned “on” and how they operate – a process known as epigenetics. Gene expression may also be affected by environmental factors like temperature, pH (the acidity or basicity) of cells and oxygen levels.
Understanding how environmental influences can alter gene expression is vital to healthcare practitioners in effectively diagnosing and caring for patients based on their specific genetic and epigenetic make up, lifestyle choices and any possible impact they might have on gene expression. Doing this allows healthcare practitioners to better assess and care for individuals according to their specific genetic and epigenetic makeup while considering any impactful lifestyle decisions on gene expression.
Studies have demonstrated that diets high in sugar can trigger epigenetic changes that put individuals at an increased risk for diabetes. Furthermore, early experiences of adversity can leave lasting epigenetic scars that raise risk for depression and neurodegenerative diseases.
Positive experiences can produce an epigenetic response that activates genes related to health and wellbeing, which highlights why providing children with supportive relationships and stimulating environments from an early age is so essential.
As epigenetic modification can often be modified through lifestyle choices, this can provide individuals with an opportunity to improve their health and well-being by making simple yet practical changes that lead to greater epigenetic modification. Eating a diet high in leafy greens for their folate content, berries for their antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids from fish like tuna can positively influence DNA methylation and histone modifications – two essential steps in epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Like exercise and sleep, stress management strategies such as regular physical activity and adequate rest are known to decrease epigenetic changes and can empower patients by including these practices into their treatment plans. Healthcare providers should employ these approaches when working with patients.
