Nutrition and Gene Interactions: Epigenetics

NUTRITION AND GENE INTERACTIONS

Little is known about the etiology of cancers or the origins of chronic diseases. “The precipitous rise of chronic diseases is now the subject of genetic and environmental influences. Poor nutrition and stress, we now know, can alter susceptible genes. This is the basis of epigenetics, a recently recognized mechanism underlying health and disease.” (Judith Finlayson, Robert Rose, Inc. You Are What Your Grandparents Ate, 2019.)

The Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project has identified millions of gene defects and variants in human DNA. The average person has 250 to 300 defective genes, plus an average level of 75 variants associated with disease. Nutrient availability, particular in early life, can modify the functional level of specific genes thereby influencing disease risks. Increased understanding of epigenetic processes as well as a person’s genetic status without changing gene structure is becoming an interesting phenomenon. Gene activity can be shut off or turned on, or slowed or sped up by epigenetic mechanisms, many of which are environmental. Refer to FFandFads on epigenetics.

Diseases Resulting from Multiple Gene Variants

Cancer
Most types of cancer are related to environmental exposures such as high fat and alcohol intakes, low fruit and vegetable intakes, high levels of body fat, smoking and other toxins. A number of research studies suggest that a diet rich in cruciferous vegetables may lower rates of a variety of cancers, including breast, pancreatic, bladder, lung, prostate and colon cancer. This family of vegetables is led by broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage to mention a few.

Certain enzymes in cruciferous veggies may help protect cell DNA from damage, and others may have antioxidant properties. Crucifers may also help to counteract cancer-causing nitrosamines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are found in charred, cured or barbecued fish or meats.

Obesity
“Over 40 gene variants have been related to obesity development in people exposed to Western-type diets and low levels of physical activity. The current obesity epidemic appears to be driven by a mismatch between multiple components of our 400,000 year old genetic endowment (i.e., what our ancestors ate) and current food and activity environments.

Genetics traits that helped our early ancestors survive times of famine and that encouraged food intake rather than discouraged it, and that set up metabolic systems around unrefined and unprocessed foods are at odds with much of today’s food supply and physical activity requirements.” Nutrition Now, Judith E. Brown, 7th Edition

Reversing the world wide trend in obesity rates will not be easy. We need to lessen our triggers that favor food intake and increase environments that favor physical environments – how about just increased walking environments. No need to go to the gym.

Expanding availability of healthier foods and increasing earlier nutrition education to encourage healthier lifesytes is desperately needed and the earlier the better. As Michael Pollan suggests: Eat food (unprocessed), (Not too much), Do not diet. Mainly plants (fruits and vegetables). See how easy it is???

Why Is Epigenetics Important?

“The epigenome is a network of compounds surrounding our genes, which interacts with our environment, altering gene expression to external influences.”

“Although our DNA code does not change, the epigenome is flexible and reacts to our environment. Beyond helping cells know what to do, the epigenome also responds to things like diet, stress, toxins, behavior, and lifestyle. Our experiences help shape how genes are expressed. It is often referred to as an “on and off switch” that turns on or off certain genes. It is what makes even identical twins different over time.”

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Nutrigenomics

What is Epigenetics?

Epigenetics refers to the inheritable changes in your DNA that don’t change the actual DNA sequences. That means these changes are potentially reversible.

What is DNA Methylation?

Your DNA consists of four bases called cytosine, guanine, adenine, and thymine. A chemical unit called a methyl group (designated by CH3 or one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms) can be added to cytosine.

When that happens, that area of the DNA is methylated. When you lose that methyl group, the area becomes demethylated.

DNA methylation often inhibits the expression of certain genes. For example the methylation process might stop a tumor-causing gene from “turning on”, preventing cancer.

Researchers are currently working to better understand the factors that affect DNA methylation. Based on some earlier findings, there is some evidence that diet plays a role. This opens up the potential to reduce genetic risk of developing certain conditions such as breast cancer or heart disease through simple lifestyle changes.

The patterns of DNA methylation change through out your life, from fetal development to end of life. Studies suggest thqt DNQ methylation slows down as we age. Genes that were once repressed by methylation start to become active and possibly result in a variety of diseases. Interestingly, another study found that participants”who consumed more alcohol were more likely to have decreased DNA methylation. In contrast, those who consume a lot of folate were more likely to have increased methylation.

“Can Diets Change Your DNA? The question is “are you really what you eat? The answer appears to be No. However, we have known for years that gene expression influences metabolism. A study published in Nature Microbiology in 2016 indicates that nutrition may play an important role in how some DNA sequences are expressed. The study that how genes behave is strongly influenced by the food we eat. Even so, we are still a long way from the kind of personalized medicine that will furnish nutritional therapies to treat a wide spectrum of conditions.” Stay tuned for the future. Source: You Are what Your Grandparents Ate. Judith Finlayson, 2019.

You may want to search my blog for a simple description of the association between nutrigenomics and diet with the Agouti yellow mouse.

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Lifestyle and Longevity

Does chronological age always match biological age? According to a recent study, 1500 elderly women aged 64 to 95 years who sit for more than 10 hours a day have cells that are biologically older by 8 years compared to women who are more active. These women had shorter telomeres which are found on the ends of DNA strands. These structures protect chromosomes from degradation and normally shorten with age but more progressively with unhealthy lifestyles such as obesity or smoking.

Aladdin Shadyab. Lead author. Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

The research was partly funded by the National Institute on Aging.

Why Should We Care About Epigenetics?

Epigenetics is a hot topic right now and appears more in news articles as science makes further associations. It is becoming more obvious that our lifestyle and experiences can affect our genes and can be passed down to our children and grandchildren through genetic pathways.

Factors that can influence epigenetics can include: Diet, physical activity, sleep, stress, inflammation, chemicals products, UV rays, and environmental pollution.

DNA is the blueprint for the instructions for the entire body, but chemical tags called methyl groups make up what is called the epigenome to decide which genes are active – this is called methylation or gene expression. It is often referred to as an “on and off switch” that turns on or off certain genes. It is what makes identical twins different over time. Although our DNA code does not change, the epigenome is flexible and reacts to our environment. Our experiences help shape how genes are expressed.

DNA methylation works by adding a chemical group to specific places on the DNA as “tags” where it blocks the proteins that attach to the DNA to “read the gene”. This chemical group called a methyl group can be removed through a process called demethylation. Typically, methylations turn genes “off” and demethylation turns genes “on”.

Women are not solely responsible for the health of their future children. Science is finding that the health of a man’s unborn children can be affected by things like the man’s diet, life experiences and trauma, exposure to toxins and how old he is at conception.

DNA is not our destiny. Epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affects the way your genes work. Through epigenetic tags, parents’ experiences and lifestyle can affect the genes that are passed down to their children and grandchildren.

A proper lifestyle “turns on” protective genes and “turns off” disease-producing genes by their positive impact on the epigenome.

Citation:

Why Should I Care About Epigenetics? Utah Valley Pediatrics, September 30, 2013

The Epigenetics of Obesity

Obesity is a chronic condition characterized by excess body fat. Its origins are mulfifactorial including heredity, behavior and environment. Obese people are at risk of developing many diseases. In fact, obesity is the second most important predictor of cancer, preceded only by tobacco use.

Epigenetics refers to those elements of the genetic code that you are able to change without altering your DNA sequence. It includes which genes you express, to what degree and at what time. Consequently, epigenetic processes determine whether a specific gene is active or not at any given time. In the absence of further studies. Genes can be expressed or not expressed.

Your epigenetics develop in the uterus and continues to change throughout your life. A study in the Netherlands during the famine period of 1944-1945 demonstrated how genetics affects obesity. Fetuses of mothers exposed to extreme hunger experienced more glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, early coronary heart disease, and obesity. Therefore, starving could cause some of the diseases that are prevalent in society today. These genes can be transmitted from generation to generation. Unlike the genome (the complete set of genes in a cell), the epigenome is reversible. Epigenetic marks can be modified throughout life. However, modificationss at critical periods of prenatal development have greater effects on the results. So DNA is not your destiny!!

Lead a healthy lifestyle prior to conceiving a baby, especially the mother; however, there are some indications that the father’s lifestyle can also be influential. Ideally, both expectant parents and the offspring should maintain good lifestyle habits to include healthy diets, physical activity, adequate sleep, stress reduction, and avoidance of inflammation.

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Nutrition, Behavior, and Disease

Biological Changes during Aging and Nutritional Consequences

S0URCE JUDITH E. BROWN, NUTRITION NOW, 7^TH EDITION, 2013

The combined effects of poor diets, other risky behaviors, and biological aging increase the rates of serious diseases during adulthood. How soon a disease develops largely depends on the intensity of exposure to behavioral risks that contribute to disease development. These are often referred to as epigenetics (when the DNA is not altered, but environmental factors cause genes to be turned either on or off.)

What Are Some Nutritional Consequences?

Lowered stomach acidity may result in decreased absorption of vitamin B12? The consequences of getting less sun exposure may result in less production of vitamin D in the skin.

A person’s need for calories generally declines with age as physical activity, muscle mass, and basal metabolic rate decrease. However, when one chooses to continue their physical activity into their older years can maintain their muscle mass, experience less muscle, and bone pain, and gain less body fat than people who are inactive.

For the most part, the development of chronic disease in middle-age and older adults can be viewed as a chain that represents the accumulation over time of problems that impair cell functions. Each link that is added to the chain, or each additional insult to cellular function, increases the risk that a chronic disease will develop. The presence of a disease indicates that the chain has gotten too long – that the accumulation of problems is sufficient to interfere with the normal functions of cells and tissues.

Normal cell functions and health promotion are facilitated by healthful dietary lifestyles and other behaviors. For example:

Correcting obesity and stabilizing weight during the adult years tends to lengthen life expectancy.

Dietary intakes that correspond to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (MyPlate) or following a healthily diet pattern like the Mediterranean Diet is related to a longer life expectancy.

Maintaining adequate calcium, vitamin D, and protein intake and engaging in regular physical activity during the adult years may prevent or postpone the development of osteoporosis and help maintain muscle mass and strength.

Above average intake of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains may delay the development or help prevent a number of types of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, and cataracts.

The health status of adults is not necessarily ‘FIXED” by age.; it can change for the better or the worst, or not much at all. It’s up to you.

What’s Wrong With the American Diet?

For one thing – it’s too many calories and processed food. Twenty five years ago, the average American consumed about 1850 calories each day. Since then, our daily diet has grown by 304 calories (roughly the equivalent of two cans of soda. That’s theoretically enough to add an extra 31 pounds to each person every year; judging from the ongoing obesity epidemic, many Americans are gaining those pounds — and then some. Obese children who carry the weight into adulthood (1 in 5 young people (ages 6-19) have a higher likelihood of developing hypertension, severe kidney and heart disease, and type 2 diabetes as well as mobility and self esteem issues. What has gone wrong? One thing is the takeover by the food industry of processed convenience food – our snack foods are often breakfast, lunch and even sometimes dinner for a lot of us. These foods are loaded with inflammatory compounds that eventually lead to chronic diseases.

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UNHEALTHY PROCESSED FOOD AND SNACKS CAN LEAD TO OBESITY

What is Nutrigenomics? What is epigenetics?

Nutrigenomics is the scientific study of the way specific genes and bioactive food components interact. It provides a basis for understanding how the health consequences of eating behaviors may vary across individuals. This information is key to a personalized approach to nutrition in a clinical environment. Because epigenetic events such as methylation can be changed, they offer another explanation for how environmental factors such as diet, can influence biological processes and phenotypes. Search Food,FactsandFads for more on Epigenetics.

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What is epigenetics? “Think of this way: Epigenetics is the on-off switch to the dimmer on your dining-room chandelier. The gene is the lightbulb, the epigene is the

light switch. If the lightbulb is defunct or the switch is frozen in the “off” position, the dimmer function is useless. Likewise, epigenes control the effect to which the gene turns on.

Altered nutrition also appears to be the primary driver of altered epigenetics. For example, the vitamin, folate is a necessary cofactor for the enzymes called DNA methyltransferases, which add a methyl group to DNA to alter whether genes are being activated. Folic acid is so important to normal fetal development in order to prevent the occurrence of spina bifida that the FDA and mandated to be added to store – bought bread.

Other nutrients at work here – vitamin B12, B complex vitamins, retinoic acid (vitamin A). circumin, sulforaphane, and polyphenols and others that moderate this process.”

Source: Lustig, Robert, H. MD. Metabolical, 2021, Page 120.

Diet and Longevity

Can our Lifestyles Slow Down the Clock?

Our bodies are constantly creating new cells through cell division. Unfortunately, the cells become “old’ and reach a state called senescence where they no longer replicate themselves.

The old cells do not die but linger in the body systems causing damage and inflammation to healthy cells.

But, during cell division, structures called telomeres (stretches of DNA protein) come into play. They are likened to the plastic tips at the end of shoelaces that prevent fraying. The are located at the ends of chromosomes (genes) to protect and keep cells stable. However, every time a cell divides, the telomeres shorten slightly. The length of telomeres and the rate at which they shorten have been linked to aging. An enzyme called telomerase is often referred to as “anti-aging helps maintain the telomeres, helping to keep them long.

Studies at this point have suggested that various nutrients could possibly influence the expression of a particular gene (TERT) that is linked with telomerase activity. These included genistein found in soy and broccoli; EGCG, a polyphenol in green and black tea, sulforophane found in vegetables such as cauliflower, kale, and collard greens. Data from the Nurses Health Study indicated that intake of dietary fiber was linked to longer telomeres in middle-aged and older women. But research is limited at this point and should be further investigated.

An interesting study indicates that telomere length is connected to the amount of soda we consume. Sugar sweetened beverages are thought to be a major contributor of sugar in the U.S. diet.

In 2024, researchers looked at a group of people who regularly consumed 20 ounces or more of soda daily. The study was published in the American Journal of Public Health, reported that the soda drinkers’ telomeres shortened much more quickly than the norm – the equivalent of more than four and a half years in addition to the normal aging that would occur over the course of a year. This is not good news.

The researchers had included only healthy adults with no history of diabetes or cardiovascular disease in their study. The potential connections with metabolic disease are fascinating.

Consider, for instance, that obesity is also associated with reduced telomere length – even for children. The authors of the study of course recommended that further research be done to examine any reasonable associations with dietary factors and telomere length.

Source: Findlayson, Judith. You Are What Your Grandparents Ate. Page 228, 2019.