What controls our health, our biology? Is it our inherited genes? No! We have been wrong since 1859 when Charles Darwin published "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection." With this publication, Darwin launched a quest by scientists for the genetic proof that our biology is controlled by indelible genes. This concept, Darwinian determinism, has been the mantra for over 100 years and our textbooks and literature tell us that our genes control our lives. As a former medical school professor (who worked with cells that produced specialized proteins (antibodies) that confer immunity to foreign substances), I, too, learned the mantra. Scientists spend years searching in the DNA for specific genes, e.g., a cancer gene, etc. This view suggests that we are not in control of our lives, that the genes we inherit from our parents dictate who and what we will become. It implies that if our parents had heart trouble or cancer we will have it as well. We just wait for the cancer gene to emerge!
Genes give us the structure and unique form of who we are, but do not control our biology. The book, "Biology of Belief" by Bruce H. Lipton (Hay House, 2005) shows it's the environment that is the driver shaping our lives (biology), not our genes. Lipton, a former professor of Cell Biology, systematically and convincingly presents the case for this 'new biology' that is diametrically opposed to Darwinian determinism. Instead, Lipton suggests it is Environmental determinism. The implications of Lipton's thesis are profound. It means that we are not trapped by our heredity; we are not cursed by poor health experienced by our parents; it is not inevitable that we get cancer if our parents had cancer; importantly, it means we have more control over our health and lives than we ever thought possible. Lipton does reference that only 5% of cancer and cardiovascular patients can attribute their diseases to heredity.
The dogma resulting from Darwin's thesis was that DNA (genetic material, deoxyribonucleic acid) produced RNA (ribonucleic acid messengers coding for proteins) that leads to protein synthesis. Lipton says that this DNA-centric view puts the DNA (genes) in control of our biology and he emphatically points out that this is wrong! Scientists have known much of what Lipton shares, but have not articulated the fact that it is the environment that plays the dominant role in controlling our biology.
The concept that the gene is in control is so very entrenched (textbooks, curricula, lay media) that it is difficult to change mainstream thinking. It has been widely assumed in the science community that DNA (found in the nuclei of all cells) is the brain for the cell. A brain is an organ that senses and responds to its environment. By referencing published science experiments, Lipton shows that the main function of the DNA is for reproduction of the cell. In his colorful way, Lipton says that the DNA is not the brain, but the gonads of the cell! If the nucleus/DNA is not the brain, then where is the brain? By its function, Lipton declares the cell membrane the brain. The membrane senses the environment and with its receptors and effector proteins sets in motion an appropriate response to the environmental stimulus. There is a scientific discipline, Epigenetics, that studies the control of cell function outside of genetics. Most interesting from these studies is the fact that we can change our genetics and that those changes can be transferred to our progeny. As Lipton says, the primacy of the environmental signal over the DNA results in a sequence that starts with an environmental stimulus resulting in triggering regulatory membrane proteins that then activate the DNA, the RNA, and subsequent protein synthesis. And proteins are the substances that serve as 'workers' in our bodies to help send signals, pass information, and turn on and off cells that produce other mediators that keep our bodies functioning optimally.
How do we humans develop our biological complexity? It is with the several hundred thousands of protein molecules that mediate and generate our diverse responses. It appears that even though mice and humans have about the same number of genes, our proteins' abilities to respond to many environmental stimuli far exceed those of mice. Why? From epigenetic studies it has been shown that over 2,000 protein configurations can be formed from a single gene sequence. That's diversity!
The bottom line? If our cellular membranes translate environmental signals into behavior, then our environment plays the major role in controlling our biology. This means that we have significant control over health and well-being situations in our lives. We are not constrained by our genetics. We can help ourselves and can no longer blame our inherited past. Now that is exciting! What does this mean in terms of medical practice, nutrition and health, existing diseases, people and places we interact with, or what we think and do? New thinking, new treatments, new ideas, and new hope where there was none! There is more to this story and I can't wait to learn it.
© Baldwin H. Tom, Ph.D.
www.tbgroupconsultants.com
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