Back

Genetics

Genetics has changed dramatically. Genes are now identified with certain good and bad traits of our bodies. Some code for illness or growth. Some code for our ability to repair ourselves. But the exciting discovery is that genes can be switched on and off, and under our control. They are no longer seen as our inescapable fate. We can change the way genes work in every cell of our body, a process called epigenetics.

When gene therapy was first talked about, I could not see how it would work. How could you cure someone of a disease that was coded into the DNA at the heart of every cell? The discovery that individual genes in the DNA could be switched on or off was the breakthrough.

Take one example. There is a gene that determines our growth. Switched on, it produces a chemical called 'insulin-like Growth Factor' IGF1. This determines our size. It also allows cancer cells to grow out of control to kill us. But we can switch it off. How? By fasting. Three days complete fast will switch this gene off for at least a month. Regular one-day fasting will control it just as well. It can slash the chances of getting cancer and explains why cancer has exploded as a result of our lazy, bloated habits. And this isn't starvation-fasting. You can still eat around 500 calories if you want to. On the other days you can eat pretty much all you want. Too good to be true? It sounds it, but it seems that it is true. Sort of. If you watch a repeat of the Horizon programme on fasting on BBC TV, or read Holford's book described in the review, you will learn more. I have found that you can't eat all you want on non-fasting days if you want to lose weight. Just eat normally.

	Back

(C) Peter Scott 2021

Last edit 26 August 2021