Tag Archive for: DNA

Why I Hate Cilantro

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The All of Us genetic testing results I told you about Tuesday included four more genes; by examining the results, these genes explain a lot about my personal tastes. These are not world-changing genetic analyses such as risk for cardiovascular disease or celiac disease, but they’re nevertheless interesting. Here’s what else I found out about myself from the results.

Bitter

Remember, there are five tastes: bitter, salty, sour, sweet, and umami. Evidently not everyone tastes foods the same way; I didn’t know that there are at least 25 different types of bitter receptors. I have a gene that allows me to taste flavors that are considered bitter. There are at least 550 foods identified as bitter; some I naturally like such as coffee. We can adapt to tastes regardless of our genes, so you may develop an appreciation of bitter foods if you don’t like them now.

Earwax

I have a normal gene that allows me to produce wet earwax as opposed to dry, flaky earwax. In the analysis I received, there’s a long explanation about earwax and what it does. One function of earwax is to keep the ear drum dry when water enters the ear canal; it made me wonder if that’s why some people are more prone to “swimmer’s ear” than others.

Lactose Intolerance

There’s a gene that, depending on its location on your DNA, will allow you to produce more lactase, the enzyme that breaks down the milk sugar lactose. If the gene is in a different position, you may lose your ability to produce enough lactase, and thus you become lactose intolerant. Mine is evidently in a good position because I digest dairy products just fine.

Cilantro

I have the “I hate cilantro” gene. Actually, that’s an overstatement. If you have the gene mutation, you have a slight chance of disliking it, somewhere between 3% and 21%. To me (and Paula), it strongly tastes like soap instead of the refreshing citrus flavor most people experience.

Those were the genetic results I’ve gotten so far—nothing earth shattering but interesting nonetheless. It explains a lot, including that in spite of your genes, you can overcome some of your genetic tendencies and learn to love cilantro.

Consider joining the All of Us Research Program. You’ll be contributing a lot and you just might learn some interesting things about your genes as well. Check it out at https://www.joinallofus.org//#.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Should Your DNA Guide Your Diet?

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In an opinion piece, a college professor in the U.K. who had written about personalized nutrition wanted to find out whether she should change her diet based on her genetic profile. She decided to send her DNA to Norway for analysis.

Her genetic profile indicated that she was at risk for having high cholesterol and an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. To deal with that, she became a vegetarian. She also takes high levels of B vitamins because she doesn’t process one of the B vitamins very well. Her point was that knowing her genetics gave her the motivation to take control of her diet and lifestyle. She now advocates that all of us should take control of our health through personalized nutrition based on our DNA analysis.

I’m not so sure. I think genetics are one piece of a complex puzzle. What causes the genes to express themselves? What turns them off? More than anything, what role does the microbiome play when combined with the genes? We still don’t know the answers to any of those questions.

Someday we may be at a point where we can be very specific about nutrition, but we’re not there yet because we not only don’t know the answers—we don’t know the correct questions to ask. For reliable results, it still comes down to what I always tell you: Eat better. Eat less. Move more.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: http://bit.ly/2ZclpII

Fasting: A Metabolic Do-Over

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The changes that occur during fasting are remarkable. Blood sugar is maintained within normal ranges. Protein and other breakdown products can be used to make glucose. And there’s one more significant finding: levels of purines and pyrimidines increased during the fast. These are some of the substrates for making proteins and nucleic acids used for making DNA.

What does that mean? Fasting isn’t just a one-way event where things are only broken down; some are being rebuilt. Prior research on cancer patients have shown that a 48–96 hour fast helps use up immune system remnants and rebuilds the immune system. In those cases, they were reduced to 500–800 calories under hospital conditions. The fast helped them do better during chemotherapy.

Before we get carried away, a couple of things. The study I reviewed had only four subjects, they were normal weight, and they were all 29–30 years old. We don’t know how this type of fast would impact an overweight 55-year-old with type 2 diabetes. There may be differences in which metabolites result, and the rebuilding process may be different. Still, it’s encouraging.

I felt fine throughout my fast, but I had a head start, albeit a forced one. I can’t say that I notice any major differences except for the eight-pound difference in the scale. But how can you say that you feel your immune system is stronger or that your DNA is being replicated with fewer errors? You can’t.

This was not the type of fasting that manipulates the schedule so people can eat within a four-hour window and “fast” the rest of the day. I know people feel better and may lose weight, but there’s no evidence of any metabolic changes as significant as these. What is being attempted is to fit the fast into our lifestyle instead of letting it go organically for a day or two, and the benefits are important even if they’re not as dramatic as those in the study. Another name for this type of fast: a cleanse. What I think it proves is that you don’t need anything other than the will to do it for you to see some benefits. You don’t even have to abstain from food. You just have to do it.

If you want some guidance on doing a fast/cleanse, get out your copy of Real-Life Detox and get going. If you don’t have one, get your copy today. It’s time for a metabolic do-over! What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-36674-9

Problems with DNA Barcodes in Plants

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The question is simple: is DNA barcoding useful in assessing whether dietary supplements contain the herbs they say they contain? If we were looking at the raw leaves or seeds or flowers of the herb, yes. But that’s not what happened: scientists tested bottles of herbal preparations pulled right off the shelves. In my opinion, as well as experts in the field, looking for the DNA won’t work.

The way we use herbal products today is very different from the way herbals were used earlier in our history. We don’t use raw plants or poultices the way . . .

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DNA Barcoding in Plants

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I like to know how things work, and researching DNA barcoding in plants opened up a whole new world I was only partly familiar with. DNA barcoding is a method that examines regions on DNA to categorize animals, insects, plants, and just about everything else on this planet that has DNA.

I first learned about using DNA to identify organisms when I wrote the section on the microbiome in Real-Life Detox. Using specific regions of the DNA strand, scientists were able to identify more than 5 . . .

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Cancer: Do Your Best

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We’ve spent this week looking at whether many forms of cancer are just due to bad luck or whether other factors come into play. Based on the statistics derived from comparing the lifetime rate of getting a specific cancer and the cell division rate of the tissues, about two-thirds of cancer cases are due to chance. That leaves genetics and lifestyle choices to make up the rest—and remember, breast and prostate cancers were not included in the analysis.

Some cancers, lung cancer for example, are influenced by habits such as smoking. Colon cancer is influenced by genetics . . .

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Cancer: Timing is Everything

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We’re continuing our look at whether the development of cancer is simply bad luck or if there could be more to it (1); most of all, we need to look at why we’re at risk for cancer when cells divide. Let’s start there.

The reason we’re most at risk when cells divide is that’s when they’re vulnerable to mutations—mistakes in copying the cell’s DNA. Cancer cells are typical tissue cells that multiply faster than they should; their DNA is damaged and they aren’t “behaving” normally. The damage to the DNA most . . .

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