Epigenetics

    Epigenetics is a term which refers to "on top of genes." The basic idea behind this new scientific discipline is that food and nutrients are information which speaks to our genes. The underlying principle we should learn from epigenetics is that our genes do not predetermine our fate. How we feed ourselves also has a great role to play in our health and development.

The queen bee illustrates the powerful impact nutrients can have on the expression of genes. A queen bee and female worker bees have identical DNA.

     The queen bee is different from worker bees solely because she is fed differently. The queen bee is fed royal jelly her entire lifetime while worker bees receive it for only three days. A single ingredient in the royal jelly called royalactin causes the ovaries of the queen bee to develop and is responsible for the other changes in the queen bee including a greatly increased lifespan. 

     The methylation of genes changes the way they are expressed in the queen bee. It is interesting that methyl donors (found in GNLD Lipotropic Adjunct) have also been shown to promote beneficial health changes in humans including reduced risk of heart disease and cancer.

     The National Cancer Institute web site references the following: "It has been known for several decades that diets deficient in methyl donors...cause cancer and that methylation deficiency is a characteristic of cancer." 

Reference:

Huang, Shi, Carcinogenesis: Effects of Diet Deficient in Methyl Donors. http://prevention.cancer.gov/funding/recently-funded/ca03016/1r01ca10534701