Sometimes people ask me “Guy, what about the role of epigenetics? Is that more important than genetics itself?” You see, epigenetics is the science on how gene expression can be changed by therapies or environmental factors and the answer is – it’s extremely important!
The environment (including diet and lifestyle), plays a huge role in shaping gene expression, but what most people don’t realize is that gene variations actually have a significant impact in determining a person’s epigenetic expression. Genetics are important because they tell you what your epigenetic tendencies are, which can allow you to focus on environmental levers or supplements that modify the genes and pathways that need to be epigenetically worked on.
Let’s take the example of FOXO3, which is involved in tumor suppression, immune function, DNA repair, and resistance to oxidative stress. This protein is so important because it’s a transcription factor, that means that it changes the expression of other genes. Higher levels of this protein leads to better health. 26% of the population has a version of this gene that makes it equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 25 years (according to one study) and results in a shorter lifespan. If you have the risk variants of FOXO3, then it means that your genes are predisposing you to have lower levels of this protein. This can cause broad changes in gene expression regarding genes that combat oxidative stress.
However, FOXO3 can be impacted by the environment quite a bit. Exercise, saunas, fasting,lowering your cellular acid by molecolar hydrogen suported by various food compounds can increase FOXO3. We see all of these things as healthy, but they become even more important when you have the risk variants of this gene. If you have this variation, then you can epigenetically change your gene expression to block the negative impacts of these variants.
As I mentioned, there are many genetic and environmental factors that contribute to a condition. It’s certainly possible that you might have risk variants for a given gene, but not necessarily have negative impacts from it. So how do you know when to focus on combating the risks from a specific gene?Generally, we don’t want to treat a gene unless it is associated with a condition or symptom that you are already experiencing.
However, there are some cases where you should treat a gene to prevent a future disease from happening. In these cases, the treatments would involve generally healthy lifestyle choices that you’d usually want to follow even if you didn’t have the variants.
I give you an other example, the genes APOE, MTHFR and some other variants have a very large impact that should be taken into consideration even if you are completely healthy.
If you have APOE4, you’ll want to make sure that you are getting enough DHA in your diet, along with getting plenty of exercise. APOE helps bring DHA to the brain, and the APOE4 variant doesn’t work as well. You’ll also want to keep a close eye on your cholesterol levels, as the risk goes up substantially for people with higher cholesterol levels. This would be healthy advice whether you have the variant or not, but it becomes even more important with the variant. You can find out if you have the APOE4 variants and get your own personalized recommendations with SelfDecode’s APOE DNA Wellness Report. Some people consuming a carnivore or lectin avoidance diet, like I do, think high cholesterol is irrelevant for heart disease, but that’s a mistake. And if you have an APOE4 variant, then you definitely want to be cautious.If your LDL cholesterol levels are about 140. This is the only marker in your blood that’s not optimal. I am not very concerned about this because if you don’t have any APOE4 variants and all of the other markers are optimal, but I’d definitely focus on bringing this down if you did have APOE4 variants.
If you have the bad MTHFR variants, but no health issues, you’ll still want to make sure that you are getting enough natural folates and avoiding the synthetic folates. You can accomplish this by eating ample non-starchy vegetables and staying away from processed foods. In addition, you want to measure your homocysteine periodically and make sure it’s below 8-9. This advice regardless, but it becomes even more important if you have the bad MTHFR variants (homozygous for C677T).
As you can see, epigenetics plays an important role in gene-based health management, but the emphasis you place on your chosen health regimen can be informed by your genes and specific variants.
My final advise as a Epigenic research fellow
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To your health Take Care Prof. Guy Van Elsacker DrSc. – Biomed Expert Research Epigenetics & Nutrceuticals European Institute for Molecular Hydrogen (EIMHT) Ostrava – Czech Republic