Category: Epigenetics

According to emerging research in epigenetics, while the fundamental sequence of your DNA remains unchanged, your diet can profoundly alter how your genes are expressed. This means that the food you consume can essentially act as a set of instructions, turning certain genes 'on' or 'off,' directly impacting your health, disease risk, and aging process.

According to the CDC, epigenetic changes can be passed down to future generations, showcasing how lifestyle factors like diet can influence heritable traits without altering the DNA sequence itself. This phenomenon, known as the epigenetic inheritance of diet, is changing our understanding of how our eating habits affect not just our own health, but also the long-term well-being of our descendants.

Studies on the Dutch Famine in the 1940s revealed that poor maternal nutrition could alter an offspring's DNA methylation profile, influencing long-term health outcomes. Understanding what foods cause DNA methylation provides powerful insights into influencing our genes through dietary choices.

Methylation, a fundamental biochemical process occurring billions of times per second, is profoundly influenced by nutritional status. The B vitamin riboflavin, also known as B2, plays a crucial and often underestimated role in this vital cycle, acting as a cofactor for a key enzyme and impacting overall health.

Studies show that environmental factors, including diet, can have a profound and lasting impact on gene function without changing the DNA sequence itself. This phenomenon, known as nutritional epigenetics, reveals what is the role of nutrition in epigenetics and how it shapes our health trajectory from before birth onwards.

According to one report, nearly 90% of Americans do not meet the recommended adequate intake of choline, a vital nutrient for numerous bodily functions. Many people associate methylation with folate and B vitamins, but choline provides a distinct yet equally important route for this fundamental biochemical process.

Methylation is a fundamental biochemical process occurring in every cell, affecting nearly every body system from DNA repair to neurotransmitter synthesis. To power these billions of daily reactions, the body relies on nutrients known as methyl donors, found abundantly in a wide variety of foods.

Research from the Dutch famine in 1944 famously demonstrated that maternal nutrition could have lasting epigenetic effects on offspring health. This highlights the profound connection between diet and our molecular biology, raising the question: what are epigenetic foods and how do they influence our genes? Nutritional epigenetics is the scientific field exploring this exact relationship.

Based on her research into the world's healthiest diets, physician Dr. Cate Shanahan created the Deep Nutrition analysis, a framework connecting traditional eating habits to a person's genetic destiny. The approach, first detailed in her book *Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food*, argues that a return to ancestral eating can repair metabolic pathways and optimize gene expression.

Methylation is a fundamental biochemical process that occurs billions of times per second in every cell and is influenced by nutritional intake. Understanding what foods are methyl donors is key to providing your body with the raw materials needed to support this critical function, which impacts everything from DNA repair to detoxification.