GENE EXPRESSION IS YOUR DESTINY PART 1
June 27, 2011
All humans have the same genes, which is the basic makeup of who we are or what the human is; but what makes us different is a concept called ‘gene expression’. It is how our gene is expressed that determines our individuality. I am at the American Academy of Orofacial Pain national meeting and I just heard a lecture on gene expression. This introduces some new concepts, which are very thought provoking and significant. This speaks to the age-old controversy of nature versus nurture. Nature is our gene, which determines that we are human. However, nature does effect the expression of the gene. Nurture would be all the things that actually had been documented to affect the expression of our gene such as our diet, lifestyle, drugs, alcohol, and other lifestyle modifiers. All these things have been documented now to affect the expression of our genes.
The concept is known as ‘epigenetics’. The word ‘epi’ is a Greek word that means ‘around’. For example, epicenter is around the center. Epigene is an expression of the gene that is around the actual gene. Gene expression can come out as how our body deals with heart disease or other risk factors that affect our heart or all the things that cause pain and our perception of pain. For example, have you ever wondered why some people have chronic pain or aches or pain all the time and some people do not? This might be because of the way the genes have been expressed. Why do some people have heart attacks at age 60 who never smoked or drank and yet some people who have heart attacks when they are 90 years old and they had smoked all their life? It has to do with the epigenetics.
Now for the startling new revolution. The speaker has documented the fact that gene expression or modified gene expression can actually be hereditary! That means that if a pregnant mother has alcohol or decides to smoke, that it will modify her gene expression. But on top of that, it will modify her baby’s gene expression and her baby’s child’s gene expression! So toxicity from drugs and alcohol and smoking can be passed down through 4 generations. This has now been documented in research.
Not only is this a frightening possibility, but it also helps us to explain some of the things that I have pondered in previous blogs of which the proliferation of autoimmune diseases in my generation. I have spoken about the autoimmune diseases that I am seeing now in patients that I never did even 20 years ago. These diseases include the lupus, arthritis in young people, Sjogren disease, and the list goes on and on. There will be more blogs on this subject in the future.
There is a lot of think about here.
Ronald S. Prehn, D.D.S.
Diplomate of the American Board of Orofacial Pain
Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine
