Your genes are not your fate - Dean Ornish

TL;DR

Your genes are not necessarily your fate because lifestyle changes can alter how they are expressed, according to Dean Ornish. Eating healthier, managing stress, exercising, and loving more can improve blood flow, while a study of men with prostate cancer found favorable changes in more than 500 genes. Read on to see the reported effects on the brain, heart, cancer progression, skin, and sexual function.

Transcript

one way to change our genes is to make new ones as Craig venture has so elegantly shown another is to change our lifestyles and what we're learning is how powerful and dynamic these changes can be that you don't have to wait uh very long to see the benefits When you eat healthier manage stress exercise and love more your brain actually gets more bl... Read More

Key Insights

• ↩️ Lifestyle changes can influence gene expression and turn on disease-preventing genes while turning off disease-promoting genes.
• 🥵 Positive lifestyle habits like healthy eating, stress management, and regular exercise can lead to improvements in brain health and function.
• 🥰 Changing one's lifestyle can have a significant impact on heart health, including the reversal of clogged arteries and the prevention or improvement of heart disease.
• ♋ Lifestyle changes can potentially inhibit tumor growth and have implications for cancer treatment and prevention.
• 🧑‍⚕️ Skin health and aging can be positively influenced by increasing blood flow through lifestyle changes.
• 👨 Traditional risk factors such as saturated fat, sugar, nicotine, and chronic stress can have detrimental effects on various aspects of health.
• 🧑‍⚕️ Genetic profiles, along with lifestyle changes, provide individuals with a sense of control and empowerment over their health outcomes.

Questions & Answers

Q: Are your genes your fate according to Dean Ornish?

No. Dean Ornish says genes are a predisposition rather than an unchangeable fate, and that lifestyle changes can affect how genes are expressed.

Q: Which lifestyle changes does Dean Ornish recommend?

He identifies eating healthier, managing stress, exercising, and loving more as beneficial lifestyle changes. He says these changes can improve blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain and other parts of the body.

Q: How can lifestyle changes affect gene expression?

In a study of men with prostate cancer, more than 500 genes changed favorably after lifestyle changes. Ornish describes this as turning on disease-preventing genes and turning off disease-promoting genes.

Q: Can lifestyle changes reverse heart disease?

Ornish says his research showed that heart disease could be reversed. After only a year, clogged arteries became measurably less clogged, and a cardiac PET scan showed increased blood flow.

Q: Can lifestyle changes affect prostate cancer progression?

Ornish says lifestyle changes may stop or reverse the progression of early prostate cancer and, by extension, breast cancer. In vitro tumor growth was inhibited by 70% in the lifestyle-change group, compared with 9% in the comparison group.

Q: How do lifestyle choices affect the brain?

Eating healthier, managing stress, exercising, and loving more can increase blood flow and oxygen to the brain, which Ornish says can become measurably bigger. He also names chocolate, tea, blueberries, moderate alcohol, stress management, and cannabinoids as factors associated with new brain-cell growth.

Q: What lifestyle factors can harm brain cells?

Ornish lists saturated fat, sugar, nicotine, opiates, cocaine, too much alcohol, and chronic stress. He says these factors can cause people to lose brain cells.

Q: How can lifestyle changes affect skin and sexual function?

Lifestyle changes can increase blood flow to the skin, which Ornish says may slow aging and reduce wrinkling. Increased blood flow to sexual organs can improve sexual potency, while nicotine constricts arteries and is associated with impotence; he states that half of men who smoke are impotent.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• New research shows that lifestyle changes can make a significant impact on gene expression, leading to positive health outcomes.

• By adopting healthier habits, such as eating chocolate and blueberries, managing stress, and avoiding substances like nicotine and cocaine, individuals can promote brain health and potentially prevent diseases.

• Lifestyle changes can also improve heart health, reduce the risk of heart disease, reverse clogged arteries, and even potentially inhibit tumor growth in certain types of cancer.