From the desk of Dr Sam Shohet
BDS MGDS RCS(Eng) LiAc MBAcC ICAK
JUNK IN OUR GENES
ConfessionI have a confession to make, and if you have been reading my blogs I am sure that you have already suspected this: I am truly fascinated by genes.
Furthermore, I cannot understand how anyone even remotely connected with health could have a valid reason not to share in this fascination.
Genes, our Book of Life
Not only do genes make up our ‘Book of Life', the very manual by which we live our life, they also provide us with the means to change and modify the way our cells work to enable us to survive and thrive in a hostile world that is constantly changing.
Our world is in a continuous state of flux. From the ever-increasing use of pesticides, herbicides and preservatives in our food products, the pollution of our water supplies with chemicals and drugs, the detrimental changes in farming methods which result in depleting the soil of essential nutrients, the climatic changes, rising water levels, floods and droughts, to the increasing stress levels from economic turmoil and uncertainties about our future.
And these are just the outside factors that we have no control over. Couple that with personal changes to our lifestyle, our diet, even our beliefs and expectations, and it is a wonder that any of us can survive at all.
Survival of the Species
Yet not only do we survive, we also thrive. We now tend to live longer than a few decades ago and our quality of life has also improved considerably and continues to improve despite all the odds being stacked against us. Of course I am not only referring to the Western developed populations.
Some populations remain stuck in a time warp where improvements in health and quality of life have not changed in decades. There are regions on this planet where one in three babies dies at birth and a further one third before they reach the age of two. Regions where people have no choices in changing their personal circumstances or in effecting any changes to their lives or the lives of others. And yet, thanks to their genes, they also continue to survive and thrive.
The Human Genome
The Human Genome Project has listed some 25000 - 35000 genes as being the mainstay of our species. The genes selected contain DNA sequences which code for amino acids or proteins essential for making us who we are, from the way we look to the way we behave.
It is interesting to note that the difference between the common fruit fly and the human genome is a mere 5% and that we share 98.9% of our genes with our nearest relative, the chimpanzee. And yet these minute differences actually account for the formidable contrast between a fly, an ape and a human; such is the power of genes.
Junk DNA
However, within each genome there appears to be a large number of DNA strands which do not code for amino acids and which, until recently, were considered to be ‘junk DNA' whose purpose was neither known nor fully understood. Interestingly though, the quantity of this DNA in each species differed greatly and far outweighed the small differences in the DNA which coded for amino acids - the amount of this junk DNA in humans was almost three times that in the ape and a hundred times that in the fruit fly.
It now appears that what we perceived to be junk turns out to be the most sophisticated system ever devised of turning genes on and off.
It is the very means we use to translate thoughts, circumstances, experiences, feelings, emotions, perceptions and so on, into changes in our genes which, in turn, alter the very way we function.
Furthermore, these changes are transmitted through the sperm and the egg to our offspring.
I urge you to read the last two paragraphs again.
Is it conceivable to think that by living a life of sadness or anger can cause a set of genes to be altered so as to not only predispose us to say cancer or heart disease, but that this cancer or heart disease can become hard-wired into our genes to make it transmissible to our offspring?
The latest research coming through now seems to confirm the inconceivable.
So what does this mean?
It means that if we are able to influence genes to be turned on or off by thoughts and circumstances, then this places us in full and total control of our destiny and that of our children.
Confronted with a disease or condition, no longer can we hide behind the excuse that it is not our fault but simply the luck of the draw, the throw of the dice, karma or blame it on our parents. No longer can we feel sorry for ourselves and demand pity.
It means that we are no longer victims but active perpetrators as well healers.
It means that not only is pharmaceutical intervention useless but that such intervention may actually create the very circumstances that would change the expression of genes which, in turn, would adversely affect us and our offspring.
The New Frontier
Now is surely the time to forget about beliefs, dogma, rivalries and money driven policies in Medicine and immediately to begin to assimilate this new knowledge into the mainstream.
This surely is no time for procrastination but for celebration. It is a very exciting time for all of us and a way towards the medical panacea: a cure all and a cure for all.
And who said genetics was boring?
With warm regards
Sam Shohet