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This episode is part two of my series on the mind-body connection. I'm going to be reading from my book, The Christian's Guide to Holistic Health. And today we're going to be talking about an idea that there's a lot of confusion around. That idea is genetic determinism. If you ask your doctor, why do you have this disease or this illness, you're likely to get a response something like, well, no one really knows. It's probably genetic. You see,
Medical doctors are trained to look at health from a physical perspective only. The trouble is we can only learn so much about our health and well-being by studying cadavers because human beings are far more than just a body. We are a spirit, we have a mind, and we live in a body. Our bodies are animated by our spirit and our minds. So in this series, we're going to be exploring the power of the mind-body connection. And in this chapter from my book, The Christian's Guide to Holistic Health,
I'm going to be debunking the myth that our health outcomes are pre-programmed for us by our genes at that single monumental moment of conception. Yes, we all have a genetic predisposition, but genes are not destiny. Let's talk about it.
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Welcome to the Christian Healthy Lifestyle Podcast, where I help you navigate natural health so you can stay out of the doctor's office, age gracefully, and live a better life. I'm your host, David Centstrom. Chapter 21, genetic determinism. Genes are not destiny. Bruce Lipton. This is one of those chapters I mentioned in the introduction to this section that's gonna be a bit technical. We're really gonna do some geeking out here.
I've chosen to put the whole thing in a geek's corner, which makes it optional reading. However, this concept is foundational to understanding how our thought lives influence our biology. This chapter really does set the stage for the rest of the section on the mind. You can still get a lot out of the rest of the book if you choose to skip this. Although if you're the kind of person who wants to know why, I highly recommend you read this chapter. I contend.
that if you know why I'm making the recommendations that I make, you'll be far more motivated to implement the necessary changes. We're going to shine the light of truth on a widely circulated health destroying myth. That myth is that our genes control our health destiny. The following discussion on DNA and cellular function explains why our thoughts matter so much to our health. I recommend reading this chapter at least twice.
The truth bombs in this chapter will change your view regarding how vital our thought lives are to our physical well-being. If you learn what's in this chapter, you'll have a deeper appreciation for how our thought lives affect our cellular biology and therefore our health. Geeks Corner, genetic determinism. Genes are not destiny. On our journeys to embrace holistic health, it's important to understand that genes
influence our biology, but they do not control it. The role DNA plays in our everyday lives has been overstated. The discovery of DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, in 1953 was a significant scientific breakthrough. It helped to explain how our cells reproduce. Since then, however, we've been told by the experts that our genes are in control of our biology.
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This has been going on for so long that we've come to accept this notion as simple truth. It is true that living organisms are defined by the nature of their proteins and proteins are encoded by DNA sequencing. However, the idea that genes are in control of our biology has always been a hypothesis and recent scientific research has proven this hypothesis to be untrue. Yes, we all have genetic programming.
This programming will determine things such as height and hair color. In addition, we may have inherited a genetic predisposition. However, just because we have a family history that includes heart disease or cancer, this doesn't mean we have a genetic time bomb inside of us just waiting to go off. As we're going to see, our lifestyle choices are what truly matters. As my friend Bill Walcott, an author of the Metabolic Typing Diet says, genetics may load the gun
but it's lifestyle choices that pull the trigger. The Primacy of DNA Theory. Human beings live and die at the cellular level. If our cells aren't functioning properly, our bodies suffer. So it's no surprise that in medical research, a great deal of attention has been given to cellular function. In an attempt to explain complex cellular behavior, scientists have developed a theory called the Primacy of DNA, or as I like to call it,
genetic determinism. This theory states in part that our DNA is the primary determinant of our cellular function, therefore in control of our biology. The primacy of DNA theory states that our DNA sequencing is responsible for everything from cancer to ADHD to individual personality quirks. In addition, this theory implies since we have no control over the DNA we inherit,
We have no control over our genetic destiny. Many influential scientists have embraced this theory hook, line, and sinker. As a result, it has become dogma in medicine and health care. There are some troubling consequences to holding this view. First and foremost, if who and what we are is determined at that single monumental moment of conception, we end up living in a form of fatalism.
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In this fatalistic world, our health has been established for us and we're nothing more than victims of a cruel game of genetic roulette. Next, it removes personal responsibility from the equation. Why bother with lifestyle interventions to improve our health when it's all cast in stone ahead of time? Of course, this theory sits well with the notion that since we can't change our DNA, we're going to need drugs to counteract the effect of our faulty genes.
When the drugs stop working, surgery is our only option. I hope you know by now that I strongly disagree with these notions. The latest research into genetics has lowered our DNA programming down a few notches on the scope of things. For instance, human beings are far more complex than the common fruit fly. However, on a genetic level, we're not that much different. Human beings have approximately 24,000 genes.
The fruit fly is not far behind with about 14,000 genes. It's not the number or complexity of our genes that makes humans more complex, but the number and kind of protein interactions our cells have with our DNA that is far more significant. Research published in the National Academy of Sciences journal states, the interaction between different proteins is behind all physiological systems in the body. Understanding the human genome
definitely does not go far enough to explain what makes us different from more simple creatures. Our study indicates that protein interactions could hold one of the keys to unraveling how one organism is differentiated from another. These protein interactions are part of the environment surrounding our cells and what determines our genetic expression or the idea that our cells selectively read portions of the DNA code. Epigenetics.
Genetic expression is explained by the science of epigenetics. Epi is Greek for above or beyond. Epigenetics is beyond genetics because it expands the genetic determinism model. Bruce Lipton, a brilliant cell biologist who spent a great deal of his adult life peering through an electron microscope and author of The Biology of Belief, defines epigenetics this way.
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The study of molecular mechanisms by which environment controls gene activity. Our DNA is like a set of blueprints a contractor would use to build a house. The plumber only needs to see the plumbing portion of the prints to know what he needs to do. He doesn't need the rest of the plans to go about installing the plumbing for our house. Likewise, a cell doesn't need the entire DNA code to assemble the right proteins to do its job either.
Our DNA programming is not the primary determining factor in our biology. It's our genetic expression or the way our DNA is read by the cell that matters most. Genetic expression. We must understand that rather than being controlled by an unalterable set of DNA instructions, our cells read different data from the DNA code based on the shape of a protein sleeve surrounding the DNA.
This sleeve changes shape based on the environmental signaling surrounding the cell, exposing or covering various portions of the DNA code. This is a crucial distinction. Just as we can mix up 26 letters of the alphabet and make over a million words, our cells can receive different instructions from the DNA code.
The environmental signaling surrounding each individual cell is what determines which instructions are read or not read. This is referred to as genetic expression. A landmark study. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center were able to manipulate the genetic expression of mice through toxin exposure and nutritional supplementation. They fed mice high amounts of bisphenol A, or BPA.
a chemical commonly found in plastic bottles that acts as a xenoestrogen in the body. Exposure to BPA created a single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP pronounced snip in their genes. Snips are commonly referred to as genetic defects. This toxin exposure created a hypomethylation condition in their agouti gene. The mice that had this genetic defect were referred to as agouti mice.
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and had yellow fur instead of brown. They were obese and were predisposed to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. In addition, their offspring inherited the snip along with the same traits. Their siblings that were genetically identical and were not exposed to BPA did not have any of these problems. Here to fore, genetic defects were thought to be an inherited trait and therefore unchangeable. However,
By feeding these genetically altered mice supplements that were high methyl donors, specifically folic acid, betaine, vitamin B12, and choline, their genetic expression returned to normal. Their snips were no longer present, and they passed the normal genes to their offspring. Their offspring had fur that was a normal brown color and were protected from obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
These mice maintain this corrected condition into adulthood and continue to pass the normal gene onto their offspring. Although this is an animal study, it does have significant implications for us. First, we can no longer afford to accept the dogma of the primacy of DNA theory as proven fact. Next, this study demonstrates that genetic programming is not unalterable as was previously hypothesized. Also,
Lifestyle factors, including toxin exposure and nutritional supplementation, can change or alter gene expression negatively or positively. Genes are not destiny. Cells are like tiny organisms. To get a handle on cellular function, we must understand that individual cells have many of the same properties as entire living organisms. They have a brain or a control center.
Cells have immune systems where they defend themselves from invaders. They have reproductive systems. They have respiratory systems where they receive oxygen. Cells also have digestive systems where they take up nutrients and turn those nutrients into energy. They excrete waste material as well. Probably the most essential presupposition leading researchers to hang their hats on the primacy of DNA theory is their devotion to the idea
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that a cell's nucleus is its brain. At first glance, this sounds reasonable. After all, the nucleus is the innermost part of the cell, and it contains the DNA. As a result, they conclude that DNA is king and in charge. This idea has been proven to be false. The real brain. In his book, The Biology of Belief, Lipton explains the nucleus that contains the DNA cannot be the cell's brain.
because the nucleus can be removed from a cell, a process called enucleation, and the cell goes about the business of doing what cells do for weeks or in some cases several months. If the nucleus were the brain and the DNA in control of cellular function, when removed, the cell would die immediately. With the cell's nucleus removed, it cannot reproduce. Therefore, when it's time to replicate itself, the cell dies.
Without its DNA, the cell cannot reproduce. So the nucleus containing the DNA is not the brain of the cell as previously theorized. The nucleus is the cell's gonads. The real intelligence of the cell is the membrane. It's the cell's membrane made up of proteins that allows a two-way passage of information or communication between the extracellular outside environment and the intracellular
inside environment of cells. It's these protein interactions taking place in and around the cell that determine genetic expression. Cells are like computer chips. Not only are cells tiny living organisms, but they're also programmable like computer chips. Lipton shares a significant discovery he made in 1985 while teaching medical school in the Caribbean.
At 2 a.m. one morning, he was contemplating the complexity of the cell membrane. He surveyed his notes and wrote the following statement. The membrane is a liquid crystal semiconductor with gates and channels. He knew this phrase sounded familiar. He grabbed a book he recently purchased from Radio Shack on how computers work. In it, he read, quote, a chip is a semiconductor with gates and channels, unquote.
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Lipton had stumbled upon a game-changing truth. The cell membrane is the functional equivalent or a homolog of a computer chip. Twelve years later in 1997, an Australian research consortium headed by B.A. Cornell published an article in the journal Nature that confirmed Lipton's discovery that the cell membrane is a homolog to a computer chip. This is earth-shattering news and
devastating to the primacy of DNA hypothesis. Not only is the cell's nucleus not the brain of the cell and therefore not in charge, but via the cell membrane our cells can be programmed with data very much the same way we program computers. And if a cell can be programmed with data, then that same data can be deleted and reprogrammed with new, more useful data. This changes everything.
Thoughts affect our genetic expression. Why is this important to our discussion of the mind? Because our thoughts are a critical component of the signaling environment surrounding our cells, especially brain cells. Through protein synthesis, our thoughts literally create physical structures in our brains. Thoughts actually occupy physical real estate in our brains. We help to create the physiology of our brains with our thoughts.
Good thoughts produce beneficial structures in the brain. Bad thoughts produce negative ones. Again, our minds influence our brains and our brains run our bodies. Therefore, what we allow into our minds really matters when it comes to our health. Thoughts affect our genetic expression. Why is this important to our discussion of the mind? Because our thoughts are a critical component of the signaling environment surrounding our cells
especially brain cells. Through protein synthesis, our thoughts literally create physical structures in our brains. Thoughts actually occupy physical real estate in our brains. We help to create the physiology of our brains with our thoughts. Good thoughts produce beneficial structures in the brain. Bad thoughts produce negative ones. Again, our minds influence our brains and our brains run our bodies.
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Therefore, what we allow into our minds really matters when it comes to our health. Another important consideration is the signals we send to our brains with our minds can literally build health or destroy it. The signaling in and around our 75 trillion cells is energetic. This energy is electromagnetic, chemical, and quantum physical.
Through our nervous systems, our brains will send signals to our organs and tissue via electromagnetic impulses. Our brains will also dispatch chemicals, enzymes, hormones, neurotransmitters, etc. to make things happen throughout our bodies. There is also quantum physical energy or instructions passed from one cell to the next. These energetic signals influence the protein interactions surrounding the cell membrane, the real brain of the cell.
There are several critical health building implications from these truths. First, our thoughts have energy and this energy is part of the signaling environment surrounding our cells. This means that our thought lives have plenty of power to influence our health for good or bad. Next, thoughts can alter our genetic expression, which means we are not helpless victims of our genetic programming. Lastly, we have a role to play.
We may not have any say over the genes we inherit, but we have plenty of say over the beliefs we hold and the thoughts we choose to ruminate on throughout our days. Healthy choices. When it comes to our health and well-being, the choices we make in our minds regarding our beliefs, our thoughts, and the self-talk that follows matter a great deal. The choices we make in our minds have the power to build or destroy health at the cellular level.
Our minds should be helping ourselves do their jobs, not hindering them. We can assist in our health building efforts by exercising our free will or agency and making good choices in our minds. We'll be going over exactly how to do that in the chapters that follow. Chapter 21, summary. The genes we're born with are not our health destiny.
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The field of epigenetics has debunked the theory of genetic determinism. Cells are like computer chips that can be programmed. The environment surrounding our cells is what determines our genetic expression. Thoughts and beliefs are part of the environment that powerfully affect our genetic expression and therefore our physical well-being. Well, that was a month full. As I said at the top of this episode, you may want to listen to this episode
a couple of times because I know it's pretty deep and I put this whole chapter in the Geeks' Corner in the book, but it really has some profound implications and debunking the genetic determinism myth is not an easy thing to do, but I think you'll agree with me that it's time to take genetics down a couple of notches in the scope of things. Well, that's it for now.
Make sure you tune in to next episode where I'm going to be breaking down the anatomy of a thought. It's going to be a continuation of the series of the mind-body connection. Thank you for listening. I appreciate you. I'll talk with you next time. Be blessed.
