Environment vs. Genetics
In psychology literature, we learn that we develop as a combination of our environment and our genetic makeup. Environment refers to anything that can influence us once we are born. To name a few environmental factors: parenting, education, stress, toxins and heavy metals, exposure to heat or cold, childhood trauma, and nutrition.
Genetics or the human genome refers to the make up of our genes - how our DNA dictates what or who were are. Whether we have light skin or dark skin, blue or green eyes, brown or blonde hair, tall or short. This is all mapped out through phenotypic expression of the DNA in the genes we inherit from our fathers and mothers.
Have I lost you yet?
The Nature vs. Nurture Debate
Good, now here is where it gets interesting. Going back in time, science leaned more towards the inheritable characteristics of humans. Meaning that nature - the genes we inherit from our parents - was winning the battle. Basically once we were born, we were mostly a byproduct of the genes we were given, without much chance for changing.
Nurture has historically been very controversial. Some psychologists and scientists say that even with a perfect upbringing, a person with "sub-par" genes is still limited in their ultimate ability as a human. I believe this is entirely false and here is why.
With the explosion of the recent field of epigenetics, which is the study of how our environment influences our genes, we are learning that we have much more control over who we are, than we think. We also have much more control over the genes we pass along! Which all ties back to the quote "you are what your parents ate."
Are you intrigued yet?
Changes in Diet and Effect the Next Generation
So here is where it gets really interesting. Based on changes in diet and nutrition, studies have shown that identical twin mice with identical genes and DNA can have entirely different offspring. You would think that by following the nature vs. nurture debate, the offspring should be relatively the same. However in one now famous study done by a scientist of epigenetics:
"Four years ago, a Duke University biologist named Randy Jirtle began an elegant little experiment that would ultimately lead him to confront one of life's biggest mysteries. He started with two groups of mice that gave birth to sets of identical babies carrying the same genes. The babies were raised the same way from birth. They should have looked alike but instead, they barely looked related. In the first group, the babies were overweight, prone to diabetes and cancer and covered in fur the color of rancid butter. The mice in the second group were beautiful: lean, healthy, brown. Same nature, same nurture, radically different outcomes....“The difference, it turned out, wasn't due to the mice's genetic code, nor was it due to the environment. It lay instead in a mechanism that was mediating between the two. A gene in the sickly yellow babies was making a disease-causing protein called Agouti, which also affects coat color. The brown babies had the same gene, but it wasn't making much of anything. It had mostly stopped working. The brown babies' mothers had eaten a special diet during pregnancy: one rich in folic acid, which floods the body with tiny four-atom configurations called methyl groups. These methyl groups had infiltrated the growing brown mouse embryos and latched onto the flawed gene, shutting it down. This was the solution to the mystery: Jirtle had vividly illustrated why, at the biochemical level, the genetic sequence alone doesn't always equal destiny. Four humble atoms had been enough to override a serious defect in the brown babies' genomes. And what was true of the mice turned out to be true of men: there is much more to our nature than the plans laid in the genetic code.”1
Where am I going with all this?
This important thing to realize here is that you are in control of who you are, based on how you create your environment. Now, more than ever, science is supporting the debate that we are in the drivers seat in regards to our health.
This is probably a little overwhelming to people who have spent most of their life being told "its just genetics" or "it runs in the family" or that "we have a predisposition." I think that being overwhelmed by this news is GREAT! It should feel empowering! Who you are is no longer being dictated by some uncontrollable variables.
Another very interesting study along these same lines is one that showed mice being fed a diet with identical nutrients came out with entirely different body composition make-up. Basically, one group was fat and the other was not. But HOW COULD THAT BE?!? Check it out:
Despite having similar mean bodyweight (547.9 [SE 13.4] vs 549.2 [15.2] g), rats given high-GI food had more body fat (97.8 [13.6] vs 57.3 [7.2] g; p=0.0152) and less lean body mass (450.1 [9.6] vs 491.9 [11.7] g; p=0.0120) than those given low-GI food. The high-GI group also had greater increases over time in the areas under the curve for blood glucose and plasma insulin after oral glucose, lower plasma adiponectin concentrations, higher plasma triglyceride concentrations, and severe disruption of islet-cell architecture. Mice on the high-GI diet had almost twice the body fat of those on the low-GI diet after 9 weeks. 2
Side-note: Low GI vs High GI education:
To break that down - high-GI foods are food sources which rapidly increase blood sugar levels due to being a simple chain of carbohydrate. Think of a soda pop or a candy bar. Something with a load of quickly digested sugar which spikes insulin, the body's storage hormone. Low-GI foods are ones which cause a more gradual increase in blood sugar levels as they are a more complex chain of carbohydrate molecules, causing the body to take a little more time breaking them down into readily available fuel for the body's cells. This fuel is also known as glucose. Because high-GI foods rapidly increase blood sugar, large amounts of insulin is released to store that sugar away instead of walking around with high blood sugar. When this happens we see much of this sugar being stored in adipose tissue, which is most common place to store glucose because we have so many fat cells in our body.Now, I do not want to turn this into a IIFYM/ Flexible Dieting/ etc etc debate, because that is a whole other topic that I will write about in the future. I just want to illustrate some of the important concepts to realize when it comes to the influence of diet.
I'd like to bring us back on topic to the epigenetics debate, by pointing out that the increases we've seen in things like diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease can be related directly to recent changes in dietary and environmental practices. Take a moment to review some of the following, stunning graphs:
Here is one that really astounds me. Americans have doubled the incidence of obesity in less than two decades:
I believe that these graphs depict a very clear story and are a eye-opening illustration of our current state. With the introduction of hyper-palatable foods, packaged goods, mass produced food products filled with preservatives to make them shelf-stable, we are a society so far removed from our natural state it is no wonder that we are becoming fat and weak. Massive companies like Nabisco, Kellogs, Kraft, and the evil Monsanto are lobbying to promote the misleading education of our people. The food pyramid was created by these companies in order to more easily sell their products!
Our Current Problem
We need to take a step back realize where we are and where we need to be. I do not blame anybody for their poor health. I do not blame the massive corporations for misrepresenting "healthy food" or the politicians for backing them and enabling food laws to be passed that allow cows to stand knee deep in manure, being fed chicken poop mixed with GMO-laden corn (modern day conventionally raised beef is a terrible choice).
I believe that the blame rests on the collective mind of the people, and human nature. We must ask questions. We must do research. We cannot continue to live our lives listening to what we are told.
That is where the problem lies. We are currently in a society focused on improving our 'reactive' or 'curative' medicine. We are so focused on creating new drugs and patches that will temporarily cure a problem, issue, or disease, while at the same time we are in the process of creating more sickness, injury, and illness. Why not shift gears into preventative medicine? By changing the way we eat and making better lifestyle choices, we can save billions of dollars in healthcare.
More important than healthcare savings, by changing our dietary habits we can live healthier, happier lives filled with energy, vitality, and youth. It seems that although the average person is living a longer life, those latter years are filled with pharmaceuticals and drugs just to sustain a mediocre quality of life into their old age.
This is unacceptable.
We are in control of our health. We are in control of how we feel, our mood, our energy levels, our vitality and day-to-day functionality. Another huge problem is that people have felt like crap for so long from how they've 'nurtured' their bodies, that no one actually knows what it feels like to be optimal. So we continue to suck down coffee and supplements in order to mask the low energy state that we are constantly in.
I promise that if every single person was able to feel what it feels like to be truly alive - the feeling of optimal human performance, created as a result of eating the right food, sleeping the right amount, practicing good mental health and establishing a proper connection between the mind, body, and spirit.... We would experience tremendous forward progress in all regards.
So - tying it all back to the nature vs. nurture debate. Hopefully I've captivated you through this rant and inspired you to make better and wiser choices about your lifestyle and diet. Once we have an understanding of how we can control our health, I believe that it is our duty to expound upon that and empower others to do the same. You have one life to live.... it is selfish to never realize the full physical, mental, and spiritual potential your body is capable of. It is even more selfish to neglect yourself, now that we know you can influence the genes you pass on to your offspring!
I challenge you. Start making changes to your current habits. Pursue the lifestyle of optimal living. Maximize your human performance. Understand that how you treat your body and what you put into it, is what you get out of it. Feed your soul. Develop healthy relationships. Express gratitude. Exercise your mind and physical body. Don't waste your time! Challenge yourself and find out what you are truly made of. Remind yourself everyday of who you want to be.
And remember - you are what you eat.
References:
1 http://geneimprint.com/site/press/1196487853-1197260815
2 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15337404
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