The gene pool changes throughout our lives. Scientists offer several simple ways to improve it and get rid of "genetically inherent" problems forever.
Change food composition
The study of the influence of food on genes is now engaged in a new science - nutrigenomics. She studies the influence of genes on eating behavior, and vice versa. Scientists at McMaster University in Canada have found, for example, that fresh vegetables and greens in the diet create an improved variation of the locus-specific (that is, constant for a given segment of the genome) gene 9p21. According to geneticists, it influences the tendency to cardiovascular diseases. Canadians used open data of patients from different clinics from different countries with sufficient information about food and cardiovascular health - almost 30 thousand people. And now, despite the genetic predisposition, the diet practically turned him off, made him sleep.
Resort to gene therapy
This new area of medicine is also called human genetic improvement. In a number of countries, procedures for gene modification are already underway. For example, parents insert a growth gene in their children so that they grow taller, and children - not dwarfs, but healthy ones - for future self-confidence. Athletes inject themselves with erythropoietin, a genetic hormone that increases the production of red blood cells. But these are all small things compared to gene transplant plans. So far, tests are underway on animals at the embryonic stage. It may not be possible to radically change a person through gene transplantation, but changing weak genes or genes that create a predisposition to disease is quite possible. True, nature cannot be fooled for a long time - the transplanted gene will not spread to the offspring.
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Do physical education
Surprisingly close: from one workout, muscles no longer become, but genes change. Modifications take place in them, which later help the muscles to adapt to exercise. Recently, doctors took several sedentary volunteers and offered them a 20-minute aerobic cycling workout. After taking a biopsy of the quadriceps, the scientists looked at how the genes in their cells changed. Despite the fact that we inherit DNA from our parents, it turns out that exercise activates genes related to muscle. The fact is that cells retain DNA using the so-called methyl groups. And if they are removed, then the gene information is converted into enzymes and proteins necessary for burning calories, gaining muscle mass and consuming oxygen. After the experiment, the number of methyl groups in all subjects decreased,that is, the muscles have adapted to the increased metabolism.
Increase or decrease brain activity
At the everyday level, we often hear: "Think less, you will be healthier." There seems to be scientific evidence for this dubious platitude, though more of a mediocre brain. Recently, the journal Nature Neuroscience published an article about a study, so far, it is true, carried out on mice, but they, as we know, are always followed by humans. The structure of a cell's DNA is often disrupted due to various harmful influences - this is a natural process. But there are so-called double breaks - damaging two lines of the spiral at once - they can lead to irreparable loss. It turns out that such violations in the DNA of brain cells cause a sharp increase in brain activity associated with stress. When mice were transferred from their familiar cage to a large cage lined with various objects and toys, with new smells, structures and sounds,they had double breaks in the DNA of the dentate convolutions of the brain - they are responsible for the consolidation of memory, learning, attention, etc. True, many scientists are speculating about this study: are these breaks a regulatory mechanism that, on the contrary, improves brain function compared to normal?
Reduce calories
DNA studies that exist today show that reducing calories increases the lifespan of a wide variety of organisms, including mammals. The exact molecular mechanisms of this phenomenon are not yet clear, but one thing is clear - the ability of DNA to heal itself improves with a reduction in calories.