Individual Genome Changes Over a Lifetime

A couple days ago I wrote DNA Is Not Destiny, an article on FitEyes.com about epigenetics and how we can leverage that knowledge to create and maintain healthy vision. Today I found a related article I want to share with you. Here is an excerpt:

(HealthDay News) -- A new finding about the chemical, or epigenetic, marks on an individual's DNA sequence may explain why people become more susceptible to disease as they age and why the health of one's genes is similar among families.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, reporting in the June 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that certain types of epigenetic marks change during a person's lifetime and the amount of change is similar among related people.

"We're beginning to see that epigenetics stands at the center of modern medicine, because epigenetic changes, unlike DNA sequence which is the same in every cell, can occur as a result of dietary and other environmental exposure," Dr. Andrew P. Feinberg, director of the Epigenetics Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement. "Epigenetics might very well play a role in diseases like diabetes, autism and cancer."

More information

http://staging.fiteyes.com:8080/2008/06/23/dna-is-not-destiny

http://www.livescience.com/health/616786.html

The Genie in Your Genes: Epigenetic Medicine and the New Biology of Intention by Dawson Church

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about DNA.