also occur throughout life and can be passed down from generation to generation.
One of the best examples of epigenetics is called fetal programming. This refers not to teaching your child to use the remote control before birth, but rather to changes in gene expression that affect the growth and functioning of the placenta, the amazing organ that filters nutrients, oxygen, and waste between mother and baby (more on the placenta in chapter 2). If a mother’s genes for placental growth are turned off and the father’s genes are expressed, a thicker, richer placenta develops and channels more nutrients to the fetus. This puts more strain on the mother, because it both deprives her of nutrition she needs to remain healthy and causes her to carry a larger baby, which is associated with a host of risks. (See chapter 4.) If, instead, the mother’s genes are expressed, a smaller placenta develops and fewer nutrients get to the baby. In this case, the mother is protecting her interests—if this baby doesn’t make it, she can always try again.
Factoid: All of the epigenetic changes that you can make during the development of your fetus don’t just change the way your child’s genes are expressed. These changes can also be passed down from generation to generation—meaning that the small changes you make today can affect generations long after you’ve been said good-bye to—so your responsibility for creating a healthy environment for your offspring is even bigger than you may have thought.
Fetal programming also occurs when a baby is malnourished in utero—either because mom doesn’t eat properly during her pregnancy or because environmental toxins compromise the placenta’s ability to deliver adequate nutrition (more on this in the next chapter). In either case, you get the same result: a smaller baby. You may be asking, “So what if my baby is a couple of pounds smaller than average at birth? So what?” Here’s what:
In utero, if you feed your baby fewer nutrients, you’re programming your child to expect an environment of deprivation ex utero. So genes that cause the fetus to be very thrifty, metabolically speaking, are turned on. Once the baby is born and the external environment is not one of deprivation, that child will conserve more of the food it gets and become fatter, exhibiting what’s known as a thrifty phenotype (we refer to this in chapter 2). More fat storage equals an increased likelihood of becoming overweight and developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, cancer, and osteoporosis as an adult. It’s similar to the reason why starvation diets don’t work: When your body thinks it’s faced with famine, it goes into fat-storage mode and your metabolism slows. Poor fetal nutrition may also permanently change the structure and development of vital organs such as the brain. In some cases, these epigenetic changes can even be passed on to future generations as well.
We do want to make one thing clear: If this is not your first pregnancy, don’t beat yourself up that you didn’t know much about epigenetics the last time around. None of us did, either. While epigenetics plays a role in what happens before birth, as we mentioned earlier, you can actually regulate gene activity after birth—for this child, for previous children, even for yourself. Also, if you fear you’ve already done something damaging to this baby, rest assured that human beings are a resilient lot; otherwise we’d have died out millennia ago. Let’s face it: Since 50 percent of pregnancies are unplanned, plenty of women inadvertently expose their babies to toxins like alcohol and tobacco. The key is to stop and make a YOU-turn,* reversing damaging behavior as soon as possible. Even the damage caused by smoking can be offset if you quit in the early part of your pregnancy.
Figure 1.5 Time for Change Through processes called methylation and acetylation, you can alter the way genes are expressed, as well as determine which genes are expressed. In other words, you can take certain actions that will influence whether some genes come to the forefront and whether others get locked away forever.
Another way to think about how epigenetics works is to think about how music is created. Consider your DNA to be the musical composition that will determine the individuality of your child; after all, there are zillions of way to put musical notes together. But the catch is that there are many different ways to interpret any given song. The way Johnny Cash sang a song would be different from the way a rocker would today and is way different from how a philharmonic orchestra would perform it.† Same song, different interpretations, and different results.
You and your partner each has your own set of DNA, and through your recent rendition of a boogie-woogie-woogie, you made your own biological song in the form of a baby. That genetic coding is indeed fixed, but you still have the ability to interpret the song and change the way your offspring’s genes are expressed. That, dear friends, should be music to your ears.
* Please cue “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye.
* Interestingly, too little of these hormones may lead to infertility or miscarriage, while an abundance may lead to twins and other multiple sets. More on this in “Fertility Issues” on page 380.
* True statement, not a joke.
* A YOU-Turn, as we introduced in YOU: On a Diet, refers to the fact that it’s not too late to make changes. The key is to identify when you’ve gone down the wrong road and get back on the right course as soon as you can.
† Not that one would.
The reason epigenetics is so important isn’t because someday you’ll be able to tag your baby’s genes for blond hair, a composer’s brain, or the ability to hurl a 98 mph fastball. It’s because epigenetics teaches us this: The environment that you provide for your offspring—through what you’re eating, drinking, smoking, or stressing about—is what your child will program herself to expect of the world she’s entering. Based on what you’re doing right now, she’s forecasting her future environment. And if the programming for gene expression doesn’t match that environment, problems can occur. So your challenge—dare we say your responsibility—is to provide little Dolly with a healthy environment now so that her “internal programming mechanism’ predicts and can respond to a healthy environment later. Many of the tips we outline throughout the book are based on this fundamental idea, but here we’ll discuss some of the major things you can do right away to positively influence the way your baby’s genes are expressed.
Add Folate. Your baby needs the nutrient folate because it has a direct effect on DNA. Folate is an essential ingredient of one of the building blocks of DNA, thiamine. Without folate, your body may substitute a less effective backup building block called uracil, which can cause birth defects, primarily spina bifida. Also, a lack of folate has been shown to increase childhood cancer rates by more than 60 percent. A startling statistic, for sure, but one that reinforces the notion we just talked about: in utero nutrients influence out-of-utero health. If you’re even thinking about getting pregnant, you need to supplement with 400 micrograms of folic acid (the synthetic form of folate) every day.
Detox. As we’ll discuss in chapter 2, your placenta acts as a filter that allows nutrients to pass from mother to child. It’s a nice system, except for the fact that it lets toxins through, too. Of course, the last thing you want is to provide your bubby an in-womb environment that resembles a landfill. We urge you to get rid of the most harmful toxins in your life as soon as you decide to get pregnant or once you find out you are.