Scientific research confirming and clarifying the importance of epigenetics in biology - specifically, the passing on of traits to offspring - just keeps coming. A recent study published in The Quarterly Review of Biology (University of Chicago) highlighted over 100 examples of specific animal traits passed to offspring via non-DNA inheritance.

A Current.com post includes selected examples from the study, as well as commentary on the conclusions. Here are a few examples:

Fruit flies exposed to certain chemicals transmit changes—bristly outgrowths on their eyes—down at least 13 generations.

Exposing a pregnant rat to a chemical that alters reproductive hormones leads to generations of sick offspring.

People malnourished in adolescence transmit higher rates of heart disease and diabetes to their children and grandchildren.

In these and 97 other cases the changes in subsequent generations were not from changes in DNA but from epigenetics.

According to the Current.com post, the biggest implication of this new research is that “All the stuff we’re synthesizing and creating from plastics to nanomaterials is going to live in our bodies and take its toll down the generations for a long, long time.”

The “glass-half-full’ flipside to this opinion is epigenetic nutrition: we can identify nutrients and specific foods, used by our ancestors, that meet the needs of our present-day bodies.

The LiveScience site has a fantastic overview of epigenetics that was posted about three weeks ago. Epigenetics is a relatively new area of scientific study that has come into focus as a result of the human genome project. As scientists mapped out the genome, they began to see that genes by themselves are not entirely responsible for the growth and development of our bodies. It is the epigenome that helps determine whether a given cell will become part of a big toe, or part of a lung, or what color a person’s eyes will be.

The epigenome doesn’t just affect the body while in the womb, though. According to Liang Liu, a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who was quoted in the article, “food, pollution, toxic chemicals (such as those found in hard clear plastics), drugs, stress, even exercise and social interaction can all affect the epigenome and alter its attitude towards DNA.”

A key factor that can influence the epigenome and its effect on our genes is food and proper nutrition. In the article, Randy Jirtle, an epigenetics research pioneer at Duke University in North Carolina, makes this point clear:

Similarly, healthy nutrition and lifestyle choices can positively sway gene expression. “Food is truly medicine when you are talking about epigenetic changes,” Jirtle said…

The epigenome’s malleability highlights the power we can have over the health of ourselves and our children, said Jirtle.

Check out the article here for a great overview of epigenetics, and some of the great health benefits associated with this emerging science.

The LA Times reports that last week, “[t]wo federal lawmakers have introduced legislation to require fast-food and other chain restaurants to post calories on menu boards and food display tags.” This bill, known as the MEAL Act (Menu Education and Labeling Act), is designed to “Help consumers make more informed choices.”

The article mentions that the restaurant industry has proposed an alternative bill, known as the LEAN Act (Labeling Education and Nutrition Act), which would only require chains with more than 20 units to implement the new labeling requirements. It would also preempt future state or local regulatory measures.

Both measures are supposed to help consumers make healthier choices. But calling for improved labeling of restaurant food ignores the basic fact that humans aren’t designed to eat burgers and fries. As Dr. Donald Coffey of The Johns Hopkins University puts it, “we were not biologically selected by the evolution process to eat the way we do today, and the damage is manifested.” One clear manifestation is the fact that two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight.

Rather than picking the 500-calorie burger instead of the 750-calorie one, many consumers would be better off focusing on the nutrition their bodies - or, drilling down a little further, their genes - really need. That’s the whole idea behind epigenetic nutrition: helping people obtain the nutrition their genes are designed for.

Epigenetic Nutrition is ancestral sourced whole food nutrients selected through a study of the non-DNA memory or shadow memory in your genes.

Significant advancements have been made in the field of genetic genealogy. Scientific studies now show that there is much more to our genetic makeup than just our DNA. Our DNA or genes are only part of the equation. Human DNA is 99.9% the same. What makes us different – have different color eyes and hair, different heights, etc. – is the memory in our genes (epigenetics).

Think of it this way – your genes are like soldiers – they will do whatever the general instructs them to do. Your epigenome is like the general spouting off orders to your gene soldiers. Your epigenome determines if a cell becomes a heart cell, brain cell or a skin cell. It provides constant instruction to your genes.

The core of genetic health is to ensure your genes are expressing themselves ‘healthily.’ Cancer, for example, is your DNA expressing itself in a harmful way.

A large part of keeping your genes healthy and your body functioning properly is good nutrition. Your DNA ancestry may play a big role in determining which nutrients your epigenetics with respond positively to. Through genetic genealogy, anthropology and archeology, scientists are now able to determine what your hunter-gatherer ancestors ate tens of thousands of years ago.

Because our bodies evolve so slowly, our DNA is almost exactly the same as it was during hunter-gatherer times. Many scientists agree that our genes have not evolved to consume a diet of processed foods, grains, or milk (this is often referred to as the Paleolithic Diet or the Caveman Diet). The ideal diet to keep us healthy and reduce the likelihood of disease is that of our early Paleolithic ancestors. But these diets don’t take into account that ‘caveman food’ isn’t readily available.

To learn how to access ‘caveman nutrition,’ download your free genetic health report: “Epigenetic Nutrition: Attaining Good Health through Ancestral Sourced Whole Foods”