Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays, and
Speaker 1: today we are looking at the third installment about the
Speaker 1: major hallmarks of aging and what we can actually do
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: So this week we're going to talk about epigenetic alterations,
Speaker 2: which takes us into the fascinating world of gene expression,
Speaker 2: how your genes are turned on or off like light switches.
Speaker 2: And so in week one, you remember we talked about
Speaker 2: genomic instability, which is damage to our DNA and we
Speaker 2: know that whilst your DNA sequence is fixed, the way
Speaker 2: that your body uses that DNA can be shaped by
Speaker 2: your lifestyle.
Speaker 1: So think of epigenics.
Speaker 2: There's a number of different analogies you could use, but
Speaker 2: one that I quite like is that your DNA has
Speaker 2: basically a massive instruction manual for your body to tell
Speaker 2: the cells what to do, how to behave, what sales to.
Speaker 1: Turn into, and all those sorts of things.
Speaker 2: Epigenetics is like a series of bookmarks and highlights in
Speaker 2: that manual, determining which instructions get red and which stay hidden.
Speaker 2: And that's really really important because it can tell genes
Speaker 2: what to do, when to switch on, when to switch off,
Speaker 2: and as we age, these markers actually change, and scientists
Speaker 2: can actually measure these changes to determine your biological age,
Speaker 2: which might be different from your chronological age. And you
Speaker 2: might have seen a number of these epigenetic clocks that
Speaker 2: are out there, such as the hove Art clock and
Speaker 2: the dun Eden clock. And we've actually myself and Denise
Speaker 2: who's been on the podcast several times, we actually did
Speaker 2: a study on biological aging, which I'm going to talk
Speaker 2: about in a few weeks with Denise. But anyway back
Speaker 2: to this weeks, so, just to recap, epigenetics refers to
Speaker 2: changes in gene expression that can occur without altering the
Speaker 2: underlying DNA sequence, and these changes are controlled by mechanisms,
Speaker 2: several mechanisms such as DNA methylation. Think of these as
Speaker 2: chemical tags called methyl groups, which attached to the DNA
Speaker 2: and silence certain genes when they need to be silenced.
Speaker 2: Then we have his stone modification. This is the DNA
Speaker 2: is wrapped around these proteins called his stones, and modifications
Speaker 2: to histones can actually tighten or loosen this wrap, affecting
Speaker 2: access to the genes. And then the third one is
Speaker 2: what's called non coding RNA, and these small RNA molecules
Speaker 2: help to regulate which genes are expressed, so it's a
Speaker 2: pretty complicated process. But anyway, as I said earlier, as
Speaker 2: we use these epigenetic patterns become disrupted and genes that
Speaker 2: should remain silent may be turned on, and important protective
Speaker 2: genes may also be turned off just from little errors.
Speaker 2: And these disruptions can lead to inflammation, impert cellular function,
Speaker 2: and age related diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Speaker 2: So let's talk about what we can actually do, and
Speaker 2: that you won't have to be a rocket scientist to
Speaker 2: think that. The first thing is exercise, Yes, spokes, surprise, surprise.
Speaker 2: The exciting use is that regular physical activity can positively
Speaker 2: influence epigenetic processes by a few different mechanisms. First is
Speaker 2: reprogramming DNA methylation, So exercise has been shown to reverse
Speaker 2: harmful DNA methylation patterns. For example, it can silence inflammatory
Speaker 2: genes and activate genes involved in antioxidant defense. When we
Speaker 2: talked about the impact of that last week on your televisions,
Speaker 2: and I think you'll see as we go through the
Speaker 2: twelve major hallmarks of aging that quite a lot of
Speaker 2: them are interrelated with each other, hence why the solutions
Speaker 2: are often repeated weekend, week out. The second one is
Speaker 2: improving histone modification. This is the second mechanism, so physical
Speaker 2: activity helps to modify histones in ways that keep the
Speaker 2: DNA accessible for the expression of protective genes.
Speaker 1: And then the third one.
Speaker 2: Is regulating that non coding RNA that I talked about
Speaker 2: earlier on. Exercise influences the production of non coding RNAs,
Speaker 2: some of which help to reduce inflammation and improve mitochondrial function.
Speaker 2: And there's a growing evidence that exercise impacts epigenetics in
Speaker 2: powerful ways. A twenty twelve study in the journal's Sale Metabolism,
Speaker 2: which is a real quality journal, so that after just
Speaker 2: one session of cycling, participants had changes in DNA methylation
Speaker 2: in genes related to energy, metabolism and inflam positive changes.
Speaker 2: That was Another study found that a six months cardiovascar
Speaker 2: exercise program and older adults significantly altered DNA methylation patterns
Speaker 2: associated with aging, promoting healthier gene expression. And in research
Speaker 2: on resistance training, individuals who participated in strength training workouts
Speaker 2: showed favorable changes in histone modifications, enhancing cellular resilience. So
Speaker 2: we see again that cardiovascular and strength training kind of
Speaker 2: independent and synergistic benefits, and that's why it's important to
Speaker 2: do both things. Then let's talk about diets. So there's
Speaker 2: a number of things in our diet that can really
Speaker 2: help because they support these epigenetic patterns.
Speaker 1: We know polyphenols.
Speaker 2: These are compounds found in foods like berries, green tea,
Speaker 2: dark chocolate, and lots of other things. They have been
Speaker 2: shown to influence DNA methylation patterns. A study into twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two twenty twenty three in the Journal of Nutritional
Speaker 2: Biochemistry found that regular consumption of polyphenols was associated with
Speaker 2: slower epigenetic aging. And the Mediterranean diet again, there's our
Speaker 2: special mention here because it's rich in olive oil, fish,
Speaker 2: vegetables and has been linked to more favorable epigenetic patterns.
Speaker 2: It also has heaps of polyphenols in it as well,
Speaker 2: and the amiga three fatty acids in fatty fish are
Speaker 2: particularly interesting as they not only influence our epigenetic markers,
Speaker 2: but they also help with telemere. So here we get
Speaker 2: this crossover effect again. And we also know really important
Speaker 2: in epigenetics is certain nutrients like foliate and B vitamins.
Speaker 1: They along with.
Speaker 2: Polyphenols, they act as methyl donors and they influence that
Speaker 2: d methylation. So having lots of foods like broccoli in
Speaker 2: the entire broccoli family, keel, Brussels sprouts, all of those things,
Speaker 2: cabbage as well as excuse me, berries tumoric, it's really
Speaker 2: really useful for DNA methylation and green tea, they're all
Speaker 2: particularly beneficial. And now if we move outside of nutrition,
Speaker 2: oh actually, but before I move out of that, when
Speaker 2: we eat matters as well. So research recent research are
Speaker 2: intermittent fasting and time restricted feeding has actually shown promising results.
Speaker 2: And these eating patterns appear to activate cellular rappair processes
Speaker 2: and influence epigenetic regulators called sirtuins. So when we're just
Speaker 2: constantly firing up our metabolic processes and particularly our nutritional processes,
Speaker 2: the body doesn't actually get time to do the repair work.
Speaker 2: It does the rappair work when that stuff is switched off.
Speaker 2: So making sure that you're going at least ten hours
Speaker 2: overnight without eating, I think is really really important. There
Speaker 2: and a few other things that play into as well.
Speaker 2: And again you will see this stuff coming up again
Speaker 2: and again. Managing stress because stress drives inflammation, and inflammation
Speaker 2: does all sorts of horrible shit in our body, including
Speaker 2: negatively affecting epigenetic markers, particularly change related to metabolism and inflammation.
Speaker 2: And then and toxins, just your overall toxin exposure from smoking, pollution,
Speaker 2: excessive alcohol consumption, putting lots of shit on your skin,
Speaker 2: being exposed to lots of microplastics. All of these things
Speaker 2: induce harmful epigenetic changing changes. And once you can't avoid
Speaker 2: all toxins, we can certainly reduce our exposure to these
Speaker 2: sorts of things. And the old goldilocks and three burrs
Speaker 2: comes into play as well. And when it comes to sunlight,
Speaker 2: because we know we need a further of sunlight to
Speaker 2: manufacture vitamin D, and if you've got low vitamin D,
Speaker 2: you're in trouble. But excessive exposure to sunlight can actually
Speaker 2: damage our methylation processes. So not too much, not too little,
Speaker 2: it's got to be just right. And then one last
Speaker 2: thing that's actually come out recently that has been really
Speaker 2: useful in terms of epigenetics is social connections. Studies have
Speaker 2: shown that strong social relationships are associated with more favorable
Speaker 2: epigenetic patterns. Loneliness and social isolation, on the other hand,
Speaker 2: can accelerate biological aging. So before we wrap up, just
Speaker 2: a quick summary and making sure you're exercising regularly, focusing
Speaker 2: on that nutrient rich diet, high and polyphenols and amiga
Speaker 2: three fatty acids, maybe considering some form of time restricted
Speaker 2: feeding as well, then trying to minimize.
Speaker 1: Your overall toxic load.
Speaker 2: And lastly is making sure you have really good social connections.
Speaker 2: That's it for this week, folks, catch you next time.