Obesity, the result of overeating, can result in premature atherosclerosis and multiple cancers. Oftentimes, patients would swear they eat very little, but they still gain weight. As it turns out, there’s some truth to that, as their problem is inherited through a process known as epigenetics. In this case, epigenetics refers to modifications to their parents’ DNA caused by the parents’ lifestyle. In other words, their parents were normal weight as children, but by the time they reproduced, they were obese. The parents’ obesity in their reproductive years led to changes in the parents’ DNA, which were then passed to their children. You will be reading more about epigenetics in the future, so please bear with me while I try to explain this complicated but fascinating process.
You may recall from high school biology that DNA is a twisted ladder, with each rung being a pair of A’s (adenine) and T’s (thymine) or G’s (guanine) and C’s (cytosine). This DNA ladder can open to make RNA, which can then be translated into protein or used to make another strand of DNA, making a whole new cell. Seems straightforward and simple, but it’s not. Proteins or chunks of DNA or RNA floating in the soup of the cell can tell the DNA to copy itself or make a new protein, or not. In addition, a single-carbon molecule called a methyl group, or a two-carbon molecule called an acetyl group, can attach itself to the DNA; hence the word epigenetic, literally meaning “on top of DNA”. These interfering carbon atoms can tell DNA to become active and go to work or to sit back and do nothing. They can also direct how proteins are made so a single gene can produce either an eyeball or a fingernail. In fact, our 20,000 genes can produce hundreds of thousands of proteins!
So how does this DNA change lead to inherited obesity? The epigenetic change (resulting from overeating and hence obesity) in either the sperm of the father or the ovum of the mother is passed to the offspring, who are now genetically determined to be obese. Fortunately, in both parents and offspring, lifestyle modification, weight normalization, and nutritional optimization can help control or even reverse some of these epigenetic changes. Unfortunately, as shown in an experiment with continued obesity in 20 generations of mice, so many changes occurred in the DNA that the mice could no longer reproduce. No babies, no future.
Perhaps we should revisit the ’70s song, “In the year 2525, if man is still alive.” Our habits today can help secure the future.
Dr. Charlie Barnett contributes to KnoxTNToday, where he writes the weekly column DocTalk and shares his expertise in health and wellness. He is currently in private practice, focusing on longevity and precision medicine at NovaTheros.
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