The epigenetic diet

broccoli I don’t know how many of you have already heard of the epigenetic diet , or in any case that a certain way of eating affects our DNA. Put it this way, it is a ridiculous simplification, which the first few times, heard in the mouth of nutritionists and dieticians, people who have studied in short, left me quite perplexed: weren’t they saying that we eat radioactive foods? In short, how does food change our DNA?
In reality, in fact, diet can condition our DNA at an epigenetic level : as we read here , “epigenetics is the study of the factors that determine stable and heritable, but reversible, changes in the expression of genes without changes in the original sequence of DNA “. Hence, theThe original DNA sequence cannot be changed with diet and lifestyle, unless you are the Hulk or Spider-Man with the radioactive spider sting. Instead, the diet means that our body can really change, for better or worse, in its functionality : therefore what we eat can modify our body, correct the risk of any diseases, and even turn off or turn on some genes, through their receptors

In short, the epigenetic diet teaches that nutrition is really the cornerstone of good health , while a poor diet can influence, like other environmental factors, the development of some diseases.
But let’s take a practical example:even if an epigenetic diet is still in its primordial stage and many experiments are done in vitro (in short: more laboratory stuff than research on the subject), experts agree that a diet rich in certain substances such as cruciferous (cabbage, broccolim rucola, radicchio), soy, green tea, turmeric, could be useful to discourage the risk of certain diseases. The same is a diet rich in fruit and vegetables in general.
In short, even if with the epigenetic diet there are few things that are known for certain, it is good to know that the diet of our grandparents and fathers has influenced our DNA and that our diet and our lifestyle will not only affect ours. health, but that of our children.