Never Be Sick Again (34 page)

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T
HE
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ENETIC
P
ATHWAY

“Genetics may load the gun, but environment pulls the
trigger.”

Pamela Peeke, M.D., M.P.H.
Fight Fat After Forty

O
ne of the most manipulated terms in conversations about health is the word “genetic.” Almost weekly in the news, genetic discoveries are announced, proclaiming the genetic origins of a myriad of problems—from cancer to compulsive shopping. Scientists usually describe a gene as being associated with a particular disease (rather than directly causing it), but the details become distorted and misinterpreted. Many are confused about what genes are and how they work.
We end up being misled into believing that genes
control health directly—which is not accurate, because the
environment we create for our cells controls the expression of
our genes.

While true genetic diseases do exist, they affect less than 5 percent of the population. Heredity is trumped by environment, and you control your environment. You have control over the rate at which you age and the diseases that you will (or will not) develop. Turn the right genes on, and keep the wrong genes off. Health is not about genes; it is about cells. Once again, we are in charge. Use the six pathways to optimize the health of your cells, and you control the expression of your genes.

Will the Weakest Link Fail?

What about the genetic predisposition to disease we hear so much about? What about health problems that “run in the family”?

Think of a genetic predisposition to disease as a weak link in a chain—a weak link with the potential to break, but only if excessively stressed. In the right environment, the weak link will function just fine. If the chain does break (if sickness does occur), it is not accurate to say that the weak link (the “bad” gene) is the sole trigger of the problem. Excess biological stress is the trigger, and this we can control.

By enhancing the function of cells, genetic predispositions can remain potential problems, rather than becoming real problems, regardless of what “runs in the family.” Unfortunately, people often give up to their genetic predispositions, relieving themselves—at least in their own minds—of responsibility for their actions. The genetically predisposed person might say nonchalantly, “There is nothing I can do; weight problems run in my family” (as they gulp down a burger, fries and large shake). The thinking that genes and germs are the primary factors determining our state of health is outdated and fatalistic. Genes and germs are factors worth considering, but they are not the causes of disease that we typically understand them to be.

Let us consider genes, what they are, how they work, and what we all can do to put the potential for health back into our own hands, regardless of which genes we have inherited.

Nature Versus Nurture

Genes are the blueprints or “plans” for life; they are the instructions that tell our bodies how to develop from one single cell into an entire human being. However, only about one-quarter of our genes express (“turn on”) automatically, determining, for example, whether our eyes are blue or our hair is curly. Imagine most other genes as a set of coded instructions that, much like a computer program, sit dormant, essentially doing nothing, until you activate them.

Most genes require some sort of trigger (environmental or psychological) in order for them to express. Just because a certain trait, “bad” or “good,” runs in the family does not mean that every person in the family possesses that trait or will express it even if they possess it. We often worry far more than we need to about genetic inheritance.
Most important is the
environment you create for your cells based on what you eat
and how you live your life.
You cannot control your heredity; you can control the environment you create for your cells.

Rather than thinking of genes as an absolute and unchanging set of instructions, one might think of them as a variety of possibilities—a set of “what if” instructions. If certain circumstances are present, then a person's genes express in a particular way; if other circumstances are present, those same genes express in a different way. Biochemist Roger Williams maintained that genes alone are entirely useless threads of chemicals. Genes alone do not determine our sickness or health.

If genes, in the form of cellular DNA, were the primary control of the cell—if they were the “brain” of a cell, so to speak—then the cell would die without them, but this does not happen. Scientists commonly perform a process called denu-cleation, a process whereby the nucleus of a cell and its DNA are removed. After this process, cells continue to perform normal functions for months.

Consider how changes in diet, lifestyle and environment over the past one hundred years have coincided with massive increases in rates of chronic disease. For example, in 1900 cancer affected only 3 percent of the U.S. population; now about 50 percent of all men and 40 percent of all women develop cancer in their lifetime. Our environment has changed so radically that blaming disease increases solely on inherited genes is illogical.

Consider how environmental factors can affect genetic expression. Environmental temperature, for example, affects the expression of genes that control the coloration of Himalayan rabbits. These rabbits, accustomed to cold temperatures, usually have black ears, forepaws, noses and tails, but when raised in warm temperatures they have no black markings at all. Same rabbits, same genes, but different environments and, therefore, different expressions of genes. Similarly, plants with the genetic capacity to flower and fruit only do so when a precise set of environmental requirements (such as temperature, sunlight and moisture) “turn on” the necessary genes. “Disease genes” function the same way. When people move from one part of the world to another— adopting the diet and lifestyle habits of the new environment— they also develop the disease conditions common to that new environment. For example, people from countries with low rates of heart disease and cancer, such as Japan, suffer like the rest of our population once they move here.

A compelling question in the discussion of heredity is how long you will live—your life span. A low-calorie diet is the only thing that consistently has been shown to increase life span. Genetic expression causes this to happen. A study in the September 2001
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences
found that a high-calorie diet (the typical American diet) caused changes in genes that reduced the expression of disease-protective genes and turned on genes that accelerate the aging process. But the good news is that the study also showed that by taking older animals and putting them on calorie-restricted diets for merely four weeks, about half of the gene expressions that were contributing to the aging process reversed.
Changing internal cellular environment (by
reducing calories) not only helps to prevent the expression of
aging genes in the young, it can also slow and even reverse the
aging process in the old.

As biologist Steven Rose pointed out in his 1997 book,
Lifelines,
much of what goes on in a cell is at least as much a product of the environment in and around the cell as its DNA. This environment is something we create with our diet, toxic exposures, lifestyle, and even with our thoughts, beliefs and perceptions. “Organisms,” Rose wrote, “are active players in their own fate.”

Indeed, even mental climate affects the environment we create for our cells and genes. Cells depend on the brain to interpret the environment and to use the nervous system to relay that information, telling the cells what to do. Depending on one's perceptions of the environment, the expression of genes can be greatly affected. For example, the mortality rate goes up during the first year or two after retirement. Why? Does the brain perceive that “life” is over, causing the genes to express accordingly? Deepak Chopra, M.D., author of many books and a pioneer and leader in mind/body medicine, often says in his lectures, “Aging is a mistake.” He means that we observe others around us aging, so we believe that we too will age. We literally instruct our genes to age us. Could this be one of the reasons that traditionally healthy people like the Hunzas lived so long? By believing that they would live long, healthy lives, did they actually instruct their genes accordingly? Much evidence indicates that what we believe does affect the function of our cells and the expression of our genes.

Intentional Damage to Your DNA

Modern diet and lifestyle can cause damage to genes— different from genetically inherited predispositions. Rather than causing the expression of existing genetic coding, genetic damage involves changes in the coding. A change in genetic coding is known as a mutation, which can occur both through natural causes and man-created damage. One theory of aging is that gene mutations over a lifetime cause gradual loss of function and resilience. The ability of genes to mutate is not all “bad,” but rather is an essential part of evolution and of adaptation to changing conditions.

The mutations to be concerned about are caused by chemicals and radiation, which can lead to dramatic and unpredictable changes in genetic coding. Genes are crucial plans for creating, repairing and reproducing an organism; randomly changing these plans is a bad idea. What would happen if you started making random changes to the blueprints of your house? Doors, windows, walls and even whole rooms would appear in strange places. So it is with genetic damage.

What causes genetic mutation?

•
Ionizing radiation:
Almost half of the average person's exposure to ionizing radiation comes from medical X rays and medical radiation treatments. Avoid this kind of radiation unless vitally necessary. It's bizarre that physicians put much stock in the genetic origins of disease yet also inflict massive amounts of genetic damage with pharmaceutical chemicals and X rays.

•
Non-ionizing radiation:
This is created by the flow of electricity and may also have genetic repercussions— though the evidence is less clear. As a general rule, avoid close proximity or prolonged exposure to all types of electric devices.

•
Toxins:
These include man-made industrial chemicals, prescription drugs, tobacco, alcohol and chemical residues in meat and dairy products, such as PCBs and dioxins. In particular, foods that are heated to high temperatures or blackened (such as in barbecuing) contain chemicals capable of causing gene mutations and cancer.

When a cell is exposed to toxins or radiation, the cell may die or the genes may be damaged. A mutated gene may permanently alter the way the cell works, often contributing to deficiency, toxicity and disease. Furthermore, altered cells (with mutated genes) can replicate, allowing the mutation to propagate throughout more and more cells. The effects of this replication can range from minor to devastating; replication is a classic way for cancer to develop. Worse, if genetic mutations take place in a reproductive cell, a 50/50 chance exists of passing these on to an unborn child. Destroyed or damaged cells and genes can lead to premature aging and a variety of diseases, including cancer, fatigue, poor resistance to infections, psychological stress and even social maladjustment.

Genes are not causing aging and disease. We are. We expose our cells to the toxins and radiation that make the genes mutate in the first place. Life in the twenty-first century is now causing damage to our genes and creating mutations in unprecedented ways and at an alarming rate. As scientist Richard Lewontin said in his 1982 book,
Human Diversity:
“Because of technology's ventures into ionizing radiation and synthetic chemistry, the human beings of our age, as well as the food chain on which we live, are thought to be undergoing a far higher mutation rate than biology has been accustomed to.”

Fortunately, under the right circumstances, genetic damage can be repaired. Not only must we avoid damaging our genes in the first place, we also must provide our genes with the materials (nutrients) they need in order to repair themselves.

Genetically Modified
Foods: Risky Business

No contemporary discussion on genetics is complete without discussing the powerful genetic technologies in use today, particularly with our foods. With modern genetic technology, what would have seemed miraculous just a generation ago is now possible. However, whether or not these technologies pose a threat to our health is a huge debate. Scientists on both sides constantly argue their points. These technologies present the potential both for great achievement and for catastrophe. Not enough research is available to know what will happen, although the research that is available presents cause for serious concern or even alarm. I recommend against consuming genetically modified foods because I believe these foods may be lower in nutrients, higher in toxins and present other potential risks as well.