Question

Over the past 12 years epigenetics has been a new exciting field of research. Please explain what epigenetic inheritance is and how changes to your DNA (not mutations) in your lifetime can be passed to your children and grandchildren. Diet and lifestyle choices you make today can have a profound impact on gene expression in your future children and grandchildren. Use epigenetics to explain how and provide some examples of diet/lifestyle choices that can cause epigenetic changes.

Answer 1

Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes that usually do not involve changes in DNA sequence. It includes only a phenotypical change of particular organism of a particular region, influenced by several factors such as age, environment, lifestyle, disease. Thus it is not a genotypic level of change (ie not causing any type of mutation)

Epigenetics mechanisms are broadly based on

1.DNA methylation

2.chromatin remodeling

3.histone modification

4.non-coding RNA mechanism

Lifestyle and diet has shown major impact on epigenetics such as pollution has become a significant factor in this as it is found that air pollution could alter methyl tags on DNA and increases one's risk for neuro degenerative disease

Diet also shown to be a significant factor to modify epigenetic in significant ways

A study found that a high fat, low carbdiet could open up chromatin and improve mental ability via HDAC inhibitor.

Other study showed that certain compounds within the food we consume could protect against cancer by adjusting methyl marks on oncogens or tumor suppressive genes.

The field of nutriepigenomics explores how food and epigenetics work together to influence health and well being.