Your DNA is not Your Destiny!

Posted By Kristen Harding M.D. On June 4, 2012 @ 5:20 am In All Articles,Featured,Food & Nutrition,Health & Wellness. How many times have you heard someone grumble about their health while laying most of the blame on their genes? Unfortunately, many people go through life resigning themselves to health problems that other family members have had, such as diabetes and cancer. I have had many patients in my office over the years telling me it is all their parents’ fault. But, wait a minute, research is showing that really isn’t true. There is an emerging field in science called epigenetics. It is the study of how the environment impacts our genes. Here is the incredible thing…only about 2% of diseases are passed directly through families. Examples are cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s chorea. Most diseases, however, are controlled by multiple genes. Sometimes we get caught up in news stories telling us that researchers have found the gene for obesity or the gene for Alzheimer’s disease, but it really isn’t true. They have found genes that may contribute, but do not tell the whole story. The Human Genome Project mapped out around 30,000 individual genes. But what they found is that at any given time more than half of these genes are turned off. So it is the different combinations of which genes are turned on and which genes are turned off at any given time that determines what it going on in our bodies. The incidence of diabetes has skyrocketed in the past couple of decades, but is takes centuries for genetic drift to occur in a population. This means that the increase of diabetes in Americans is not due to changes in the genes. Instead genes are being turned on and off all the time by the environment around them. The food we eat has the greatest impact on what is turned on and off and research is showing that exercise, toxins, and stress also have strong influence. How amazing! We are no longer doomed to have the same diseases as our families! But here is the catch…many families pass down their lifestyle which will in turn impact susceptible genes. So if you parents are overweight, sugar-loving , couch potatoes who have ripe gene environments for diabetes and you also love sitting around eating doughnuts and Coke, then those genes will be turned on in you too. The nurture is more important than the nature. So here is the reality, self care is the new primary care. The choices you make with your fork, how you handle your stress, and how active you are each day can have incredible impact on your health. Are you tired of paying so much for your health insurance? Are medications costing you a monthly fortune? Are you depressed from believing that since your mother or father died of something at a certain age that you will too? Take action! You have the power to activate the good genes in your body. Eat real food that does not come from a box or have a label (think plants!) Drink clean, filtered water. Walk outdoors in fresh air daily. Get your life stress in perspective. Start building a health community with your friends and neighbors to encourage each other to make positive change. We hold the key to our own health, we can’t blame our DNA. Kristen Harding, M.D. has now opened her own functional medicine practice in the Cincinnati area, Whole Medicine, LLC. For more information about functional medicine or Dr. Harding’s practice please check out kristenhardingmd.com [1] or call her office at 513-549-0494. Article printed from Healthy Alter Ego : The Health & Wellness Source You've Been Searching For: http://www.healthyalterego.com URL to article: Click Here

Poor Posture and the Tweet Generation

An article from "The American Chiropractor" Magazine of the Chiropractic Profession Consider the conclusions from two recent studies: "A significant linear trend for increasing sagittal plane postural translations of the head, thorax, pelvis, and knee was found in children age from 4 years to 12 years."1 "Poor posture was diagnosed in 38.3% children, more frequently in boys. A significantly different occurrence of poor posture was found between 7-year-old and 11-year-old children (33.0% and 40.8%, respectively). The most frequently detected defects were as follows: protruding scapulae (50% of all children), increased lumbar lordosis (32%), and round back (31%). Children with poor posture reported headache and pain in the cervical and lumbar spine more frequently."2 Study after study is validating what chiropractors have been seeing for the past decade or more: Children at a younger and younger age are seeking relief from adult type pain and discomfort. What could be the cause of this increased frequency of young patients seeking care? The author believes it is the result of sociological and technological pressures that have only developed within the past generation, the Tweet Generation. It began in the early 90s when schools eliminated lockers and required children to carry their lockers in their backpacks. A couple of years later that child began playing handheld video games. Next came the cell phone for kids with affordable family plans. But the child didn't use the phone to make and receive calls. They used them for texting. Massive amounts of texting. The author's 11-year-old daughter sent out 11,000 text messages in one month. Next we go back to a change made at the school level. As the Internet expanded so did the reliance of schools on the Internet as a method of delivering content. So, as a result, time in front of a computer at school and at home was required. The connection between all these activities is clear: Since the early 90s children from the age of nine up through young adulthood, their musculoskeletal formative years, have engaged in activities that create a Forward Head Posture environment. These activities have literally molded their bodies into an abnormal posture profile. Re-read the conclusions of the studies cited at the beginning of this article. For those readers not yet alarmed at those conclusions, consider these other studies. "All measures of health status showed significantly poorer scores as C7 plumb line deviation increased."3 "Older men and women with hyperkyphotic posture have higher mortality rates." 4 "Spinal pain, headache, mood, blood pressure, pulse, and lung capacity are among the functions most easily influenced by posture." 5 What is being done to raise adult awareness of this growing trend in children? Not much. Every state requires a school scoliosis exam. During a school scoliosis exam a child is also examined from the side, but only to observe evidence of gross kyphosis. And in most States that part of the exam is not mandatory. Studies have shown that 4.2% of the children screened for scoliosis trigger a referral for radiographs. And of those 4% only a small fraction will require advanced treatment. It appears that nobody is educating parents and schools about the 30% of children in that same age group that are experiencing Forward Head Posture and its effects. Forward Head Posture Epidemic While developing a new posture grid for school posture exams, the author placed a typical middle school youth in front of the grid and asked the youth to send out a text. It was discovered that the head was placed in a position 4.5" in front of the shoulders and placed the shoulder joints in internal rotation. The typical youth can text up to 30 hours per month. Combined with other technology and social stressors, today's youth is at a greater risk for "molded" forward head posture than any past generation. Considering the important immediate and future health ramifications of poor posture, accurate posture exams and counseling with parents, children and schools should be a part of every wellness practice. The author recently examined over 1,000 posture exams from a single office. Using sophisticated posture analysis software, deviations from normal were calculated and charted. "16 years ago I estimated that 80% of the population had FHP. I was surprised and concerned to learn that in such a large population the number was 96.5%" The additional mechanical loads from FHP stress and eventually break down the spine, disks, muscles, etc. In other words, FHP could be the CAUSE of patient complaints. There are several methods of identifying FHP and systems available for correction. For additional information about these options contact the author. References: 1. Postural development in school children: a cross-sectional study. Chiropr Osteopat. 2007; 15:1 (ISSN: 1746-1340)_ 2. Prevalence and risk factors of poor posture in school children in the Czech Republic. J Sch Health. 2007; 77(3): 131-7 (ISSN:0022-4391) 3. SPINE, 2005 4. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2004 5.American Journal of Pain Management, 1994 6. Archives of Internal Medicine 2007 Joseph Ventura D.C. is owner of PostureSoftware.com, a 32 -year-old company that develops software and marketing strategies for the chiropractic profession. Dr. Ventura can be reached at (888) 713-2093 or at sales@posturepro.com If you would like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Luke Reineck follow the link to the online appointment request - Click Here