Don't Blame Your Health on Your Genetics

Some magnificent findings have surfaced from a study conducted by Dean Ormish,MD and a few associates in California revealing you can change the way your genes work by improving your lifestyle. The trial was performed on men with prostate cancer who decided to forgo treatment until their condition got worse. Instead they agreed to undergo a lifestyle overhaul to see if this made any impact on their condition. More than 500 genes changed the way they worked after a genetic analysis. They can't say yet if the cancer was controlled but the changes did manage to change the genetic make up of non cancerous cells in the prostate. Cancer promoting genes were switched off and cancer suppressing genes became more active.

The lifestyle changes involved a more natural and unprocessed diet containing lots of plant foods and whole grains. Walking for half an hour 6 days a week and 1 hour on 3 days a week as well as an hour a day of stretching, breathing and meditation that were derivatives from yoga techniques. They also became involved in a support group for social support and to give them a sense of closeness and belonging.

This may seem like a lot of extra time required on your already full schedule but remember these fellas are coming from a cancer diagnosis. If you are disease and sickness free then wholesale changes aren't called for. The inclusion of lifestyle improving measures bit by bit will be very beneficial. The genetic changes shown in the participants was achieved in only 3 months, imagine how a life committed to incremental lifestyle improvements could benefit your genes.

So using the gene excuse doesn't cut it any more. It is great to have studies like this to prove and encourage you to keep looking for improvements in lifestyles constantly. This doesn't mean everything you hear you do, but you can develop a greater awareness of ways to create interventions to your lifestyle for the better. Diet and nutrition, physical activity and even the way you think can be very beneficial for your lifestyle.

You can find the findings in the June 17 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.