Epigenetics is a whole new realm of science that can allow us to find out if we are genetically programmed for a wide array of diseases and conditions from autism, to ADHD, to major depressive disorder, to alcoholism, addiction, and cancer.
So epigenetics is the science that allows us to know if we have the cancer gene, yes, but today, we are learning that so many more things may be inherited than we ever knew before.
New studies are showing evidence that we may inherit all kinds of emotional, physical, and mental trauma from our ancestors that can impact our health in important ways.
Now, although at first it sounds as if our futures are even more predetermined than we think – since our gene transcriptions come to bear on us in more ways than we’ve ever known before, with epigenetics, you have to think about the big picture.
Epigenetics allows us to peer into the crystal ball of future—but also enables us to change that future.
Do you remember that movie The Dead Zone with Christopher Walken? In that movie, Walken’s character, Johnny, wakes up from a coma with second sight—ESP. But what was unusual about his gift is that he can not only predict the future, he can also take action to change it.
For example, when we first see Johnny, he is just coming out of an 8-year coma, and he grabs the hand of the nurse who is mopping off his brow. Suddenly, Johnny can see the nurse’s child, Amy, in a vision—and she’s in her bedroom, with its Winnie the Pooh wallpaper bursting into flames.
Johnny tells the nurse, who calls the fire department, and is able to rescue her daughter before the fire even takes hold in the house.
Later in the movie, Johnny shakes the hand of a man running for president, played by a then very young Martin Sheen, and sees the man in the Oval Office, passing his hand over a scanner to send the bombs a-flying, initiate WWIII, and thus, bring about the end of the world.
But—again—there is time for him to stop it. To shoot the madman, and save the world.
Now, think of the madman as a cancer that we were going to get and epigenetics as the miracle that prevents our getting it.
Because with epigenetics, we not only get a glimpse into what our future has genetically mapped out for us, we also gain the knowledge and opportunity to CHANGE our futures in time to save ourselves.
Say we find out we’re genetically predisposed to cancer or leukemia.
We can make sure in our lifetime we
Then, most likely and hopefully, we can prevent it.
But what if we don’t know we’re predisposed to cancer and decide to become a golf pro or professional gardener, spending our lives surrounded by those pesticide-ridden carefully manicured lawns now being associated with multiple myeloma, leukemia, and pancreatic cancer?
If we use epigenetics as a tool then, to track what diseases we might be prone to – mental and physical, we can then take drastic action to make sure to be on vigilant watch for them and hypervigilant about preventative strategies.
Epigenetics is complex, so bear with me a minute while I explain it first, so you’ll understand its implications through example.
The Consequences of an 1836 Famine
Epigenetics actually came about from a study of the survivors of several decades of famine and four generations of their progeny in Överkalix, Sweden.
Now – what happened in this region of very Northern Sweden (think Alaska’s six months of darkness and light) was the coming true of ancient biblical prophecy. Seven years of famine followed by seven years of feast (indeed, sheer gluttony when they could eat).
And not only for 14 consecutive years. This feast/famine cycle happened over and over, like every decade in this region before the industrial revolution, when our lives were dependent solely on harvest in some parts of the world.
Northern Sweden, like some parts of Alaska, gets very little sunlight in the winter. Winters are hard and, back then, in the mid 1800s, residents there only got to eat well during winters when there was a good harvest in the summer and fall.
Sometimes there was enough to eat– sometimes, they lived on tree bark bread.
When things were good, people tended to be gluttonous—small wonder, with them still reeling with starvation. But when famine hit, it hit bitterly hard.
What made the Overkalix people perfect for a study of the effects of diet on future generations, was that the Overkalix people had kept meticulous records:
Civic officials and clergymen meticulously documented births, deaths, and family lineages in Överkalix, as well as details of every harvest. The boom/bust crop cycles were regular enough and so diligently recorded that Bygren and colleagues were able to reconstruct the nutrition available to generations of Överkalix families. See article.
What scientists found, then, is a perfect society to study how these periods of feast and famine affected their future generations. They began these studies in 1984.
What they found, ultimately, is that women tended to pass certain traits – or consequences of this famine onto their children, chiefly their daughters and granddaughters, as did fathers with sons and grandsons:
Among the 1905 birth cohort, those who were grandsons of Överkalix boys who had experienced a “feast” season when they were just pre-puberty—a time when sperm cells are maturing—died on average six years earlier than the grandsons of Överkalix boys who had been exposed to a famine season during the same pre-puberty window, and often of diabetes. When a statistical model controlled for socioeconomic factors, the difference in lifespan became 32 years, all dependent simply on whether a boy’s grandfather had experienced one single season of starvation or gluttony just before puberty. It appeared that Överkalix grandfathers were somehow passing down brief but important childhood experiences to their grandsons (emphasis mine).
See “How an 1836 Famine Altered the Genes of Children Born Decades Later.”
Soon, questions begin to arise.
Did that period of starvation so alter these individuals right within their genes that their offspring’s bodies actually prepared for that famine?
In other words—do humans actually change the structure and signaling of their cells solely because of one traumatic physiological event like a period of famine—and does it change the very biological make-up of the NEXT generation?
Such studies now are sparking all kinds of important questions in the scientific community
Fascinating questions—and many of them are being answered in the affirmative. Yes, evolution happens more quickly than we had thought. The rest of the questions, we’re still formulating whys, hows, and figuring out if we are “for sure-for certain.”
What Does This Do to the Theory of Evolution? Well . . . .
If you want to understand how epigenetics impacts Darwin’s theory of evolution, stay with me here. Turns out, we might need to go back a little further and combine his theories with someone who preceded him, a scientist named Lamark.
Darwin’s theory is that survival of the fittest helps weed our weaker species and thus, leads to the best adaptations in animals and organisms over time that ensure the survival of some species and the demise of others.
Today, modern scientists embellish upon Darwin with our new understanding of molecular biology and DNA. As one researcher explains in her article on Aeon, “The Unified Theory of Evolution”:
But over the past century, advances in genetics and molecular biology have outlined a modern, neo-Darwinian theory of how evolution works: DNA sequences randomly mutate, and organisms with the specific sequences best adapted to the environment multiply and prevail. Those are the species that dominate a niche, until the environment changes and the engine of evolution fires up again . . . but problems with Darwin’s theory extend out of evolutionary science into other areas of biology and biomedicine. For instance, if genetic inheritance determines our traits, then why do identical twins with the same genes generally have different types of diseases?
In fact, what we’re learning with the science of epigenetics is that a man named Jean Baptiste Lamark, studying adaptation some 50 years before Darwin, was ALSO right.
In his book Theory Zoologique (1809), Lamarck proposed, among other things, “that the environment can directly alter traits, which are then inherited by generations to come.”
And, in fact, toward the end of his career – Darwin himself had come to thinking that was more in line with –because the kinds of changes he had proposed take place during evolution would take millennia—while he was witnessing evolutionary and adaptive changes in animals all around him (like his famous finches) much more quickly than that.
Then, in 1953– Conrad Waddington was studying fruit flies. He found that when flies were exposed to certain kinds of chemicals or temperatures, they would develop varying wing structures. He then found that the changes they induced in that one generation was passed down to the progeny of their lineage as well. He called this “epigenetics.”
In fact, these fruit fly studies directly supported Lamarck’s theories—that ENVIRONMENT DOES impact biology and quite immediately at that.
Now, we are trying to combine all these theories with new understandings of genomes, DNA, RNA, gene transcription, and to see not just who was right but more importantly—how we can use this science now to better our lives.
In fact, with all the science we are developing within the realm of epigenetics, we will now be able to watch out for all kinds of mental and physical diseases that are genetically programmed into our cells from schizophrenia, to ADHD, to cancer, to bipolar disorder—even addiction.
The implications are dizzying when you really think about it and are extremely positive.
Identical Twins= The Perfect Example of Epigenetics
Identical twins are a great example of epigenetics.
Although they have identical DNA—the “expression” – the written code on their genes –changes over time, which is why you’ll see twins so different in personality or triplets who grow to look less and less alike over time.
Yes, they share exactly the same DNA, but their own unique experiences in life will cause some genes (and not others) to turn on and off.
This affects not only their own health differently, as we are learning, but their future grandchildren’s health as well.
What is Epigenetics Really??
Epigenetics translates into “above genes.”
What scientists are finding is that experiences and environmental factors—such as whether our ancestors were exposed to certain pesticides, for example, actually turn genes on and off through certain molecules that attach to them—called epigenetic “marks.”
These marks act like switches on cells – turning them on or off.
As Epstein explains, “The stunning implication of the ALSPAC smoking data and the Överkalix data was that some important epigenetic marks that impact human health might not get wiped clear between generations, but might actually be passed down for multiple generations along with genes.”
How are Genes Impacted by Our Experiences?
How are our genes impacted so immediately by experiences and environment?
Another study in the Netherlands during WWII is helpful to turn to here.
In this one area of the Netherlands, neighborhoods were under siege from the Nazis, who blockaded northern Sweden and they were completely deprived of food. They actually had to live on grass, tulip bulbs, dirt, insects, rats. Whatever they could get.
What scientists found was that the next generation of these starved individuals –in fact the next four generations, tended to be obese. Had their metabolisms been permanently altered by their ancestors’ starvation? Were their bodies always preparing for starvation by slowing the metabolism and creating fat stores to live on?
Perhaps, because these individuals not only suffered from obesity, but also cardiovascular disease and increased risk of neuropsychiatric disease –perhaps then trauma is passed on through changes in one’s genes due to the great stress that they experienced—stress so long and constant that it permanently alters that generation’s genes and then their ancestors’ genes as well . . .
Perhaps, scientists have been thinking, since these individuals’ bodies were constantly in fight or flight mode, the repercussions of such stress and the havoc it wreaked upon their bodies—is actually passed on to future generations in the form of stress-related syndromes and diseases, such as obesity, heart problems, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome . . .
What scientists believe is happening with our genes and how they are impacted by our and our ancestor’s experiences is best explained by a researcher for the Lindau Nobel Laureate website (I linked their studies within as well)
One possible cause is an altered DNA methylation of the insulin-like growth factor 2. Investigations by my own working group showed that IGF2 is important for cognitive functions and plays a key role in anxiety disorders. In February this year, Scientific American finally reported on a study that deals with the descendants of Holocaust survivors: “Their latest results reveal that descendants of people who survived the Holocaust have different stress hormone profiles than their peers, perhaps predisposing them to anxiety disorders.
Elizabeth Blackburn, who received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine for her research on telomeres, had, in 2013, already warned that stress can alter genetic material. She and her colleague Elissa Epel ascertained that violence, abuse and poverty reduce the ‘protective cover’ of the genome.
The question now arises as to what evolutionary sense an epigenetic inheritance mechanism actually has. Does the inheritance of negative experiences only cause additional damage in the next generation? In recent studies the focus has shifted towards finding out whether it could lead to a higher resilience to stress in following generations.
In short, we are very much still learning. But epigenetics is transforming science with HOPE where things were looking pretty hopeless given the state of our highly toxic world.
If we cannot rid our world of toxic threat, at least we can start becoming forewarned and, thus, forearmed about what these toxins are doing to us, genetically, and what kind of toxic damage we have inherited, of all kinds, physical, mental, and emotional from our ancestors which we can then heal, or reverse, doctors and scientists now believe with possibly, gene reversing medications or therapies.
What role do epigenetics & developmental epigenetics play in health & disease?
Epigenetics marks are both accumulated over time, as we live and are affected by our environment, but also from our genetic coding inherited from our ancestors. Experiences in our lives and our environments can virtually “switch” on some of these inherited markings—cellular marks, for example –just as suddenly going to work in an environment with mold in it might suddenly set off our inherited tendency for inflammatory disorders or allergies.
As the NIH notes,
Sometimes, epigenetic marks cause certain genes to be turned on or off at different stages of the body’s growth and development in a way that leads to disease. For example, certain genes normally work to protect against cancer. Some epigenetic marks can turn these genes off, increasing the risk of cancer. Scientists still do not fully understand why certain epigenetic marks switch off the genes we need to stay healthy, or turn on genes that lead to disease.
. . . . The buildup of epigenetic changes is part of normal aging. However, this buildup may also increase the likelihood that certain genes will be changed in a way that leads a person to develop age-related diseases, such as cancer and diabetes.
Today, many diseases are being linked to epigenetics changes in our cells such as
How Positive Life Changes Can Impact Your Genes Now
Some studies in epigenetics are proving that lifestyle changes we make right now can impact as many as 500 genes in the human body. For example, positive lifestyle changes in diet and exercise habits, researchers have found, not only improve our physical health but also impact our genes in a positive manner as well.
In fact, a recent study of men with prostate cancer who decided to seek natural therapy instead of chemo and other conventional cancer treatments, is giving us hope for reversing cancer and other dieseases.
In this study of 30 men with prostate cancer, researchers had these men make lifestyle improvements in diet and getting more exercise. Researchers found these positive changes led to swift and dramatic changes at the genetic level.
For three months participants ate chiefly a Mediterranean diet full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and soy products, engaged in moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and practiced an hour of daily stress management methods. After three months, the men had lost weight, lowered their blood pressure, and when scientists compared their prostate biopsies, they found profound changes in their genes as well. They’d turned off 48 that were turned on and activated 453 healthy genes that were previously turned off.
In fact, the activity of disease-preventing genes improved while those that cause prostate and breast cancer were turned off.
Just in three months. As lead researcher Dean Ornish explains,
It’s an exciting finding because so often people say, ’Oh, it’s all in my genes, what can I do?’ Well, it turns out you may be able to do a lot. In just three months, I can change hundreds of my genes simply by changing what I eat and how I live?’ That’s pretty exciting,” Ornish said. “[and] The implications of our study are not limited to men with prostate cancer. See study.
Behavioral Epigenetics: The Fascinating New Science of Inherited Trauma and Stress
Today, scientists are proposing new questions in the face of all this science. Questions they are working on answering as we speak.
The chief one is—if we can inherit traits based on our ancestors’ diet and lifestyle, can we also inherit changes in the DNA of our neurons—can we inherit trauma? Abuse? Our ancestor’s negative psychological experiences?
This whole field, called behavioral epigenetics, is poised to explode and is utterly fascinating.
As one researcher explains:
According to the new insights of behavioral epigenetics, traumatic experiences in our past, or in our recent ancestors’ past, leave molecular scars adhering to our DNA. Jews whose great-grandparents were chased from their Russian shtetls; Chinese whose grandparents lived through the ravages of the Cultural Revolution; young immigrants from Africa whose parents survived massacres; adults of every ethnicity who grew up with alcoholic or abusive parents — all carry with them more than just memories.
Like silt deposited on the cogs of a finely tuned machine after the seawater of a tsunami recedes, our experiences, and those of our forebears, are never gone, even if they have been forgotten. They become a part of us, a molecular residue holding fast to our genetic scaffolding. The DNA remains the same, but psychological and behavioral tendencies are inherited. You might have inherited not just your grandmother’s knobby knees, but also her predisposition toward depression caused by the neglect she suffered as a newborn.
Or not. If your grandmother was adopted by nurturing parents, you might be enjoying the boost she received thanks to their love and support. See article.
Conclusion
Science is at the brink of whole new worlds of discovery right now into how to improve our mental and physical health in ways never before thought possible.
Myself, I’m so pleased to see we’re finally learning that despite how much we have ravaged our world, our food, and consequently, our health — there is hope, now, that science can soon help us tap into a state of emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being never before enjoyed by us or our ancestors.
This might just be the generation we cure cancer, autism, and many other diseases, and tap into whole new levels of psychological wellness we’ve never known before.
After reading this many scientists THIS excited in such a happy way about something about human health—I am much more optimistic about our outlook here on planet Earth.
I’m a whole new level of smiling and hopeful,
Jackson