ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES CAN
INFLUENCE GENES
I
approached the Public
Biomedical Research Center in
Barcelona. Here works Elaine Vieira,
PhD, from the University of Uppsala
in Sweden. She investigates chronobiology and has a post doctorate from the Karolisnka Institutet
in Estocolmo and the Universidad
Miguel Hernández. Apart from having a warm smile and the charming disposition to collaborate with
me, when I asked her if emotions
can influence my genetics, she
responded; Yes, much more than
we imagine. Not only emotions,
nutrition, the environment, too.
How is this possible?
The idea that our environment
can alter our genes is not
new and it has a name:
39
Epigenetics. The name literally
means “genetic control” and completely changed the idea of life sciences. In the last decade research
has established that epigenetic
patterns of DNA passing through
genes are not definitive, ie, there
are environmental influences such
as nutrition, stress and emotions
that can influence genes. One consequence of epigenetic modifications is that changed genes can
pass on to future generations.