Quantum
HEALTH
Issue 10 March 2011
Your Environment Trumps Your Genes
The newest science term in the news is “exposome,” which refers how everything in your outer environment, especially toxins, impacts your inner environment–and thus your health. In a report in New Scientist*, researchers reveal that what we are exposed to in our environment heavily outweighs the state of our genes when it comes to predicting disease risk. Environmental health scientist Stephen Rappaport, of the University of CA–Berkeley, says that “Genes only contribute 10 per cent to the overall disease burden.” The rest is environmental influences, which range from stress, diet, lifestyle, and recreational and pharmaceutical drug use to chemicals, bacteria, viruses and more.
A true measure of health status, and of disease risk, is most likely a combination of genetics and environmental impacts. But scientists are waking up to just how robust the impact is from the environment, especially of the myriad chemicals and toxins that we intake. Dr. Chris Wild, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, suggests that the ideal would be to have “a comprehensive analysis of a person’s full exposure history.” Our blood may hold the key to providing that exposure history. Urine and blood analysis can reveal which chemicals a person has been exposed to and at what levels the chemical residues remain the body. But it is still difficult to identify in blood samples the “fingerprint” of individual chemicals, as there are thousands of them that we are exposed to on a daily basis. Rappaport is examining a common blood protein called albumin in an effort to develop a test that can reveal precisely which chemicals a person has ingested or inhaled, and at what levels they remain in the body. He explains that albumin in the blood catches toxins and moves them to the liver, where they are processed and broken down. By studying this process he thinks he may be able to “get a fingerprint–a display of all the products an individual has been exposed to.”
Of particular interest to researchers is how exposure to environmental toxins at the critical period of birth to three years of age affects child development, as this is the period during which rapid brain development takes place. Toxins may affect the connectivity of neurons, leaving a lasting–and detrimental–imprint in a child’s life.
18 Quantum Health
Research is accelerating in this area, with David Balshaw, of the US National Institutes of Health, saying that the good news is that “we are reaching the point where we’re capable of assessing the exposome,” and it is showing more promise than genetic analysis at assessing a person’s disease risks.
*See volume 208, No 2792/2793, “Welcome to the Exposome,” by Jessica Hamzelou.
Dream Your Way to Better Performance
Scientists don’t really know why we dream, but research is showing that dreams may help us distill information and consolidate experiences for use in life later. In a study conducted at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston, MA (USA), subjects studied a 3D virtual maze for one hour so they could reach the end point as quickly as possible in a later test. After the study session, they were divided into two groups: one group sat quietly for 90 minutes while the other group took a nap. Upon waking, the nappers were asked to report on any maze-related dreams. Those who had such dreams outperformed the others on later maze-running tests by a striking ten- percent margin.
Study director Dr. Robert Stickgold concluded that dreaming is one of the brain’s ways of sorting new information and storing it in memory. “We’re not saying that when you learn something it is dreaming that causes you to remember it,” he said. “Rather, it appears that when you have a new experience it sets in motion a series of parallel events that allow the brain to consolidate and process memories. It would seem that our dreams are asking the question, ‘How do I use this information to inform my life?’ Dreams are a clear indication that the sleeping brain is working on memories at multiple levels, including ways that will directly improve performance.”
www.quantumhealthmagazine.com
Science in the News
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