"You are what you eat" is outdated

Chronically overweight people reprogram controls over their DNA and pass on fatness and disease not only to their children, but to future generations.

Melbourne scientists have proved for the first time that damage done by unhealthy eating is "remembered" in genetic controls - epigenetics - and turns off good genes needed to prevent diabetes, heart disease and other complications.

Lead researcher Assoc Prof Assam El-Osta, from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute team, said, "It is this idea that you are what you eat, and perhaps that is a reflection of what your parents ate, and perhaps what your grandparents ate," he said.

The scientists proved that a single sugar hit, such as eating a chocolate bar, damaged the controls regulating the genes for two weeks.

But Prof El-Osta warned that regular poor eating meant the damage would last for months or years, and the real problems caused by an unhealthy diet were deferred until later life.

A poor diet could lead to very serious changes that are remembered for many months, or even years.

"You don't see the damage caused that day, that week or that month, but later on in life you see these complications like heart disease or problems with the eyes and your kidneys," Prof El-Osta said.

"This is not all doom and gloom . . . we think there is good epigenetic memory as well for individuals who have a good diet, not only for themselves but potentially for future generations. "If you have had five years of bad control, where good genes are switched off and bad genes switched on, changing that for a couple of months to a good diet may not have a tremendous impact.

"But going back to a good diet would have some effect 10 years later."

The findings were reported in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Steve - YES! YES! YES! This is the stuff public health professionals get excited about. Like we have said for the last several years, epigenetics does not just affect us, but one or two generations in the future. The mantra of "You Are What You Eat" is now a bit outdated. It now should be, "You and Your Future Generations Are What You Eat!"