Your DNA is NOT your future

What if I told you that you could rewrite your genetics? That just because your parents died early, doesn't mean that you will. This is the science of epigenetics.  Today we talk with leading expert Dr. Shimul Chowdhury about our genes NOT being our fate.

 

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welcome to CPR for Life, everyone. I often meet people who think they are screwed because of their family history. They say things like, everyone in my family dies early from heart disease. So why shouldn't I just enjoy my Big Mac and cigarettes? They feel powerless against their genetic destiny.

Today's guest is going to help us realize that we have much more control of this destiny than we might think, both for ourselves and maybe even for our kids.

He's an incredibly smart guy using his knowledge to help improve lives, particularly those of children. But before I introduce him, And we start talking to them. I wanted to give a little bit more introduction to epigenetics because probably most people haven't heard of it. It's relatively new, only been around for about 40 plus years.

And we'll go into exactly what it is for when we talk to our guests. But before that, I just wanted to give some examples. Of what it means. Some cool examples of epigenetics playing a role. Or that fruit lies. We'll change the shape of their bodies and their wings. And response to different environmental factors like temperature.

These epigenetic changes can even be passed down. Two children.

There was an unfortunate time called the Dutch hunger winter. During world war II. Where Germany cut off food to the Netherlands. And so people were starving, including pregnant women that were malnourished. And so the children. We're born . Had a much higher risk of developing obesity and other metabolic diseases. Because that malnutrition. Changed expression and genes.

And then literature is showing that their relationships between how genes are expressed and things like high blood pressure, aging, diabetes. , high cholesterol, for example, there've been discoveries of certain genes. That when epigenetically changed, affect how atherosclerosis. Develops that's the plaque inside the blood vessels that can lead to heart attacks. That can also change how high your cholesterol levels are.

as another example, chronic stress, particularly traumatic stress. Can alter the expression of genes and can make a person even more sensitive to stress. It's like a vicious loop and of course everything's connected to everything. And one example of that is that stress can alter the microbiome and then the resulting changes in what those bacteria in the gut produce can change gene expression. So after

That I really do need to mention two things. Number one, take the CPR stress course. You'll find it at www.cprhealthclinic.com/stress, and two… eat your vegetables. And your fruits and your whole grains and your legumes.

Anyway, that's enough of my long introduction to the topic. Let's get to our guest. Dr. Shimul Chowdhury is a board certified clinical molecular geneticist who's also the vice president of lab operations for Clear Note Health and also works closely with the Rady Children's Institute. for genomic medicine. Additionally, he's a researcher with many peer reviewed publications. Welcome, Dr. Chowdhury.

Thanks, Dr. Thanks for having me.

So tell us, Shimul, what's your background? How did you get into genetics? What do you do?

I've always had a lot of interest in genetics from an early age, even just working in laboratories. The first lab I was in was a genetics lab where they were looking at DNA and making diagnoses of genetic diseases from the tests that they were running in the laboratories.

So my career has rea