Its Not Genetic, But it May Show up in Your Jeans

Jul 1, 2022 | Women's Health

Written by Tanya Goldfrad, R.P.H., M.P.H.

One of my favorite ads growing up showed two pairs of jeans, one on a person thin and trim. The other pair exploding from the wearer’s weight. It read, “Being overweight is not genetic, but it does show up in your jeans!”

This is a powerful image that can be used to demonstrate how our genes do not define our fate. More than likely our actions do. In the era of genetic testing some folks become scared when they find out that they are carriers of certain genetic diseases. In fact, there is an Orthodox-run lab that tests members of the community prior to dating to see if they would be a suitable match genetically – meaning that they are not both carriers for diseases such as Tay-Sachs…which would be a problem should they marry and have children. This lab elects to not tell the participants if they are in fact carriers. Why? So, they don’t have to live with the knowledge and trauma it might cause.

In my opinion the knowledge is helpful. Even freeing. When you know that something is a poor choice for you, you can remove it as a possibility and move on. Tay-Sachs is an entirely genetic disease and lifestyle will not change whether it is manifested. But for most other diseases it will! For example, BRCA genes refer to the gene mutation that has been associated with a higher risk of breast cancer. People with either BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation have a higher-than-average risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. While 13% of women in the general population will develop breast cancer sometime during their lives, women who inherit a BRCA1 variant have a whopping 55%–72% chance of developing cancer. Women with the BRCA2 variant have a 45%–69% chance. That one variant can mean the difference of 13% versus up to 72%. This is one case where ignorance is not bliss. 

Here the question you might ask is why?  If I know I carry this potentially deadly mutation, how can I even function? A few points: In most cases, your genes do not control your destiny. Your lifestyle, epigenetic, daily decisions do. Most of the diseases that we contend with in Western society respond to lifestyle changes. Diabetes, heart issues, stroke, are all diseases that we can lower our risks of by changing our lifestyle. Based on research the risk of developing even Alzheimer’s and many types of cancers can be significantly reduced by improving our lifestyle choices. This is incredible. Genes have a potential to develop, just like seeds in our garden. But if you have ever planted seeds to develop into a vegetable or even a flower, you know that not all seeds turn into veggies or flowers. All sorts of reasons can stop the development. Too much water, too little water. Too much cold, too much warmth. And so on. Now these odds change if instead of a seed we start with a seedling. Why?  All the same concerns exist but, in this case, our little seed has already had a head start to develop and bloom. That extra bit of nurture gives our seedling better outcomes than its undeveloped seed cousins. In a perfect world every seed would germinate.  But that doesn’t happen.  

Even seedlings aren’t always successful at growing to maturity.  Why? They have the same genetic makeup; it should be the same. Even when we follow identical twins separated at birth, scientists have been able to see that nurture (lifestyle choices, and factors in rearing) has an enormous impact on diseases they will develop. 

Again and again science is showing us that genes are important, but they do not define our future. We can improve our life and health by deciding how we want to live-and act!  If we have type 2 diabetics in the family, we can watch our weight, adjust our food intake, lower our stress, and become more active. This will significantly improve our odds of not developing diabetes. For people who are carriers of BRCA variants they too can take action. They can become part of special programs for carriers that follow them and provide check-ups every six months. This behavior allows for early detection if there is a problem. They can elect to have their ovaries removed after 40 years of age and again significantly lower their chances of developing cancer. They can keep their weight under control and engage in behaviors that lower their risks, which includes being monitored twice a year.

Like everything, change is never easy, although it may be simple. Many of the lifestyle choices may seem insignificant or even silly but can dramatically change our lives. Stress reduction is one of them. Our body was designed with a survival instinct. If we are faced with a predator (dinosaur, tiger, murderer) all of our usual body systems are suspended to shift energy and focus to our heart to pump more blood, our eyes to become more aware of our surroundings, and our skeletal muscles to allow us to move quicker and be stronger as we respond (fight or flight) to the oncoming danger. This is an incredible blessing God gave mankind. The problem is today our body doesn’t differentiate between stress from sitting in traffic, from our teens, a high-strung boss, and life-threatening situations. Instead of responding to the danger and moving on we are confronted with high levels of stress on a daily basis. This long-term stress has a long-term impact on our health. 

For example, lack of seven or more hours of sleep a night puts our body into a stress mode and impacts how we interpret the events of the day and spikes our cortisol, creating inflammation in our body. This inflammation sets our bodies up for diabetes, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and possibly autoimmune disease. 

Another example are telomeres. Telomeres are like little caps on the end of our DNA that protect the DNA strands from fraying (think the plastic on the end of your shoelaces). Telomeres are important for cell health and division. If they become too short, a cell can’t undergo proper division and repair and more than likely will die. Telomeres have been the focus of a great deal of research and once again it isn’t our genes but our choices that foretell our life span and health. Shortened telomeres have been associated with all the major disease states. What is interesting is how they shorten and how we can lengthen them again. Lack of sleep, high stress, large amounts of alcohol, sedentary lifestyle, and obesity all shorten our telomeres. (Didn’t that list look familiar?). On the other hand, the list to lengthen them is also familiar: lower stress, increase regular sleep, stop smoking, eating antioxidant and whole grain foods, becoming more active.      

In many scenarios it wasn’t a gene; it was a lifestyle choice that impacted our physiology over the long term. Sometimes we see people who undergo a traumatic event or illness, and their life is forever changed by a long-term disease. Patients who are in a car accident and then develop diabetes. I have two patients now who were nondiabetic and after contracting Covid-19, they are diabetic and having a great deal of trouble controlling it. How? The body was probably suffering over the long term and that one trauma was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. It is true people who take care of themselves also get sick, but there are more people who disregard the long-term implication that their daily choices will have. 

“Choose wisely” has a powerful ring to it. It also is frighteningly true. We need to choose wisely for our today and our tomorrow!

Again and again science is showing us that genes are important, but they do not define our future.

More From Tanya Goldfrad, R.P.H., M.P.H.

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