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Ok. Couple of points: (1) A vegan diet can't "cause" genetic changes. My diet is a part of my behaviour, and short of exposing myself to lethal amounts of radia
by ajarmst 11y ago
Ok. Couple of points: (1) A vegan diet can't "cause" genetic changes. My diet is a part of my behaviour, and short of exposing myself to lethal amounts of radiation or carcinogens, I can't modify my genes with my behaviour. (2) However, if we modify an organism's environment (by, say, restricting what is available to eat), then over many generations, we should expect that organism's descendants to adapt to that change. I guess more experimental confirmation of evolution is nice, but it's not really very exciting. [Edit: Minor grammar picks]
- petewailes 11y agoSorry, but that's just wrong.
- ajarmst 11y agoThanks. I really appreciate your nuanced critique of the argument.
- andyjohnson0 11y ago"...I can't modify my genes with my behaviour." This is incorrect. Your behaviour changes your environment (both directly and/or by exposing you to new/altered environments) and your environment modifies how your genes are expressed. See the wikipedia page for Epigenetics: "Epigenetics [...] is the study, in the field of genetics, of cellular and physiological phenotypic trait variations that are caused by external or environmental factors that switch genes on and off and affect how cells read genes instead of being caused by changes in the DNA sequence. Hence, epigenetic research seeks to describe dynamic alterations in the transcriptional potential of a cell." [1] These mechanisms act on an individual and are separate from Darwinian adaptation. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics EDIT: "and your environment modifies your genes" -> "and your environment modifies how your genes are expressed"
- deepnet 11y agoEpigenetics is about gene expression, the genetic code isn't changed. The Danish/ Swedish famine study that first proved epigenetics was real showed that starvation during puberty affected the height of granchildren by switching off genes that were still present. The third generation is unaffected precisely because it is not genetic change. Enviroment only affects genes by reproduction, successful genes are inhereted or not - there is no change in genes during a lifetime - that would be Lamarkism and he was wrong. Lifestyle affects methlyation markers,which are added and change gene expression for a few generations. The underlying genes are not changed and are still inhereted, once the methlyation 'wears off' everything will be as before.
- andyjohnson0 11y agoThanks for that. When I wrote "and your environment modifies your genes" I should have written "and your environment modifies how your genes are expressed." I'll amend my comment.
- reptation 11y agoThere are a lot of assumptions in there. For instance, those methylation marks may in fact lead to changes in the DNA. Epigenetic silencing is possibly associated with gene duplication: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00239-002-2446-6 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00239-002-2446-6
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- ajarmst 11y agoThank you for clarifying that the statement "the environment doesn't modify how your genes are expressed" is incorrect. Thankfully, neither I nor the posted article made that statement.
- ajarmst 11y agoReflecting your edit, correcting your statement, thanks. Perhaps you could also point out that your edit refutes your criticism of the OP?
- lolidaisuki 11y ago> restricting what is available to eat But isn't that exactly what vegan diet is...