Be Nice To Your Epigenome
What is your epigenome? You are born with genes that you inherit and can’t change, which is your genome. But you can readily influence what was once called “junk DNA” and molecular substances around the DNA, which is part of the epigenome.This complex set of molecular level processes and compounds are closely inter-related to the DNA and act like switches that turn genes on or off in specific areas and under specific circumstances. If you visualize your genes as ballet dancers that are ready to perform and your cell nucleus as a stage, the epigenome represents the choreography. You can imagine how the performance can vary from cell to cell, or imaginary stage to stage, despite the fact that the genes or imaginary dancers are exactly the same.
Modifications within the epigenome take a number of forms, and we are discovering more. The most well-known of these is “methylation,” whereby methyl groups, small biochemical "particles" made up carbon and hydrogen, are added to DNA. These gene areas are generally correlated with low activity. Also, special proteins, called histones, are the molecular glue which holds the long DNA strands within the nucleus. These are also affected by methylation and by other biochemicals. These are simple examples of a very complex set of processes which it turns out can apparently be influenced by environment, particularly what you breath or ingest.
Epigenetics and Cancer
The relationship between epigenetics and cancer is far from clear in general, and certainly for any specific cancers like ovarian. However, we know that cancer cells have relatively low levels of DNA methylation, which is known to switch off tumor suppressor genes. Studies have been conflicting, but it is clear that many biochemicals affect methylation. The idea is that what you ingest affects the level of biochemicals which then affect methylation and gene expression.Although diet is hard to study on a large population basis, there are a number of well designed studies published in both alternative and well respected mainstream medical journals which show diet modification to be effective in disease prevention and management. Some of the effects might be direct, such as sugars affecting blood glucose levels, but some are likely to be epigenome modification phenomena. A large study spanning decades called the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) is underway which will shed some more light on this relationship.
So, even though the medical evidence is still developing, this may certainly point to the reason that well nourished people on known “healthy diets” develop less cancer or other chronic illnesses common in the West. The good news is that finding a diet that fits this theory and holding to it is not a dangerous fad or high dose supplement adventure which may help, but can also harm you. It is simply looking at the science as it develops and picking food groups that are balanced but generally support the scientific evidence.
Epigenome Methylation Foods
The league leading foods and herbs that support prevention by the epigenome methylation theory are green tea, cruciferous vegetables, foods laden with folic acid (leafy vegetables, beans, peas, sunflower seeds and liver), fortified whole grain breads, and non-sugar supplemented breakfast cereals.A good source that boosts methylation is the essential amino acid methionine, which is called essential because the human body does not synthesize it. Foods that are rich in methionine are spinach, garlic, brazil nuts, kidney beans or tofu, chicken, beef and fish. For many reasons, chicken and fish are preferable to a lot of red meat.
Choline, which is an essential nutrient that is grouped within the B Vitamin complex, is another great source for methylation processes. Foods rich in choline are eggs, lettuce, peanuts and liver.
Zinc helps properly regulate the methylation process, so either supplementation (not mega doses) or eating some oysters will fit the bill here.
Enjoy a Glass of Wine
Wine contains alcohol, which can interfere with folate metabolism and therefore interfere with methylation, when taken in larger quantities. But with moderate consumption, such as a glass per day, there are health benefits from resveratrol (powerful antioxidant from red grape skin), including cancer prevention. This benefit is complex but partly related to switching on specific DNA-repair genes, which are part of the epigenome. In fact, even two buck chuck (cheap wine) can be beneficial due to the presence of betaine, which may explain how the French are healthier than they should be given a high cholesterol diet.If any of this sounds familiar, a lot of the components mentioned above are part of the Mediterranean Diet, which is widely regarded to be one of the healthiest diets in the world.
