Can The Food You Eat Impact Your Genes? A Doctor Explains

To date, most of the elegant studies on nutrigenomics have been performed with a plant based, low-fat menu—specifically the Ornish Diet. Let’s look at some of these experiments:

Dr. Ornish, a cardiologist, fed 31 men with low-grade prostate cancer a plant-based diet with fewer than 10% of calories from fat. The men were encouraged to walk, meditate and meet in group sessions. At the end of only three months, 48 genes crucial to cancer growth were found to be more active but 453 genes (ones that controlled for tumor growth and protein production) were less active in producing proteins. Ultimately, the researchers deduced that intensive nutrition and lifestyle changes may modulate gene expression in the prostate. 

From the same group studied above, Dr. Ornish measured the activity of an enzyme produced by genes, telomerase, which are thought to be involved in slowing the aging process. At five years, there was much less age-related decrease in telomerase activity in the plant-based, low-fat group than a control group and their telomeres were longer, suggesting a slowing of the aging process.

At 12 weeks, researchers found that 26 genes were exhibiting different activity in the Ornish group. After a year, 143 genes were doing the same. The genes that promoted inflammation and blood vessel injury were significantly reduced in activity. The control group showed no improvements as they maintained their standard diet during the year.

When Hippocrates wrote 2,400 years ago to “let food be thy medicine,” he had no idea that scientific experiments would one day prove him a visionary. Food is no longer just a source of calories containing protein, carbs and fats. Food is information and can be viewed as a remote control to our genes, turning them on and off by a variety of modifications.