Epi-Food

How food influences our genes

(Bild: Tröster)

Food can have a positive effect on our genes. A cup of green tea a day, for example, has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer.

Genes carry the coded information for everything in our body, for example the production of a muscle protein. But first, the process of gene expression is required, in which the information contained in a gene is "translated" or realized in the cell.

This is precisely where the science of epigenetics comes in. It deals with the question of how various biological and environmental signals can influence this gene expression. It is not the DNA - i.e. the actual genetic material - itself that is changed, but rather a gene that is switched on or off, so to speak, by changes.

This means that various environmental factors can influence which genes are expressed - i.e. translated into a protein, for example - and which are not. The new epi-food trend stands for foods that can influence our epigenetics, i.e. regulate the expression of genes.

Green tea, grapes and blueberries against cancer
Certain foods are associated with a lower risk of developing cancer due to their epigenetic effect. One example of this is the catechins contained in green tea - a group of secondary plant substances. Their consumption has been shown to reduce the risk of certain types of cancer such as breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancer. Resveratrol, which is abundant in red grapes and blueberries, also has an epigenetic effect and can thus reduce the growth of tumor cells.

 So we are not at the mercy of our genes. A healthy, plant-based diet can have a positive influence on the likelihood of diseases that lie dormant in us genetically.