Healthy Habits: Environment and DNA

 

With National DNA Day being on April 25th, we take a moment to think about those microscopic elements that make up our genetic composition. While DNA is created and maintained inside the body, it can still be affected by the environment and surrounding changes.

Environmental specialist Douglas Mulhall has uncovered that there is much more than what meets the eye when it comes to how our environment can have an effect on our DNA. In fact, our environment plays a significant role when looking at health factors. 

Mulhall lists 3 ways in which the environment impacts our DNA:

Impact #1: Epigenetics 
CRISPR and other technologies are used to manipulate genes by changing them, but while these are showing some success, they also have unforeseen, irreversible consequences. By contrast, epigenetics involves turning genes on and off without changing the DNA. It has one big advantage: the changes are reversible. This is especially clear when it comes to environmental impacts on genes’ behavior. For example…

Impact #2: Environmental changes
Epigenetic evidence has been mounting that the environment is a major contributor to triggering heart disease. Epigenetic factors that turn on genes to activate the immune system include stealthy infections, toxic metals, and other environmental influences. Natural chemicals like polyphenols have long been known to have positive epigenetic impacts. Recent advances have regenerated the elastic in arteries using this approach, opening a new era in heart disease therapy and prevention.

Impact #3: Pathogens 
The common mouth infection P. Gingivalis and other environmental pathogens are triggering and worsening Alzheimer’s through epigenetic changes that affect genes behavior without altering DNA. Therapies aimed at the plaques in Alzheimer’s have been a nearly complete failure after billions spent. Initial results from new clinical trials suggest that targeting environmental pathogens is a far more successful and less costly tactic. 

These three breakthroughs are just the tip of the iceberg of the correlation between medical breakthroughs and how they are helping or hurting our bodies when they interact with the environment.