"Change Lifestyle, Change Genes"

is this fascinating article on WebMD. "If you change your lifestyle, you change your genes. You can't get different genes, but how you act can change how your genes act," report Dr. Dean Ornish and colleagues.

The goal of this pilot study was to see whether the Ornish lifestyle could help 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who chose not to undergo treatment unless their cancer got worse.

It's too soon to say whether the men's lifestyle changes kept their cancer at bay. But genetic analysis revealed profound differences in noncancerous prostate tissues in just three months.

More than 500 genes changed the way they worked. Genes with beneficial effects, including some tumor-suppression genes, became more active. Genes with deleterious effects, including some cancer-promoting genes, were switched off.

I have come across this in the nature-versus-nature debates as well. There is no static "nature" given to us. The "nurture" (i.e. lifestyle) switches some genes on and others off to activate nature. In other words we have infinite possibilities inherent in us, and our choices actualize some of them and deactivate others. What came as a surprise to me (and the authors of the study) is that these changes occurred in just 3 months! I want to know more about the implications of the study.