“Your mother always told you to eat your vegetables, and she was right,” saysTrygve Tollefsbol, Ph.D., D.O., co-author of a newly published article in Clinical Epigenetics. “But now we better understand why she was right — compounds in many of these foods suppress gene aberrations that over time cause fatal diseases.”
Dr. Tollefsbol talks about the concept in this video
The Epigenetics Diet
Epigenetics is the study of the changes in human gene expressions with time, changes that can cause cancer and Alzheimer’s, among other diseases.
An Epigenetics Diet is a daily diet that includes foods that turn on or off a gene's natural defenses to these cancers and age-related diseases.
Vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage are part of the Epigenetics Diet, as are soybeans, cauliflower, green tea, fava beans, kale, grapes and the spice turmeric.
These are all available at year-round farmers markets here in Silicon Valley, such as the Campbell Farmers Market. Or look for a farmers market in your area.
While the term "Epigenetics Diet" is newly coined, the mounting research that shows food actually affects a gene's ability to prevent or treat cancer has been ongoing for a number of years. Numerous studies conducted at University of Alabama at Birmingham, (where Tollefsbol is a professor and from which the research in Clinical Epigenetics was published,) have been working to identify specific food compounds that inhibit negative epigenetic effects.
In 2010, researchers at the University of California and Brown University found that diet and alcohol alter the epigenetics of breast cancer. In 2007, researchers at The Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University released a study showing that diet may help prevent (or treat ) cancer through its impact on gene expression – influencing which genes are turned “on” or “off" so that they provide a natural defense against cancer.
Easy to reach daily requirements
“The epigenetics diet can be adopted easily, because the concentrations of the compounds needed for a positive effect are readily achievable,” says lead author Syed Meeran, Ph.D., a research assistant professor in Tollefsbol’s UAB Department of Biology laboratory.
For example, Meeran says sipping tea compounds called polyphenols in daily amounts that are equivalent to approximately three cups of green tea has been shown to reverse breast cancer in laboratory mice by suppressing the gene that triggers the disease. Similarly, a daily cup of broccoli sprouts, which has sulforaphane as an active compound, has been shown to reduce the risk of developing many cancers.
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