LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

epigenetic

Major Reason Why Stress Reduction is Vital Before Pregnancy

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Preparation for a healthy pregnancy begins years before conception. A vital part of this includes managing stress.  But the reasons why may surprise you.

Every pregnant mom worries about having a healthy, happy baby.  They will do everything possible to make this happen.  Some changes are obvious–quit smoking, eat more fruits and vegetables, don’t clean the cat’s litterbox, take a good prenatal vitamin (which does NOT include the prescription brands!).  Others are more subtle.  These may include:

  1. Chemical exposure like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from grilling meats and burning candles and incense may affect your baby’s IQ
  2. Pesticides in fruits and vegetables may also lead to brain damage in the child
  3. Making sure you are taking adequate levels of vitamin D supplements

The list is actually quite a bit longer.  These items probably make sense because we know that things like chemicals are bad for a developing nervous system and that certain vitamins are absolutely essential.  But what about stress?

No one would be shocked to discover that stress is very bad for our health.  Studies have shown that stress almost doubles cancer risk as well as contributes to pretty much every chronic disease.  So what does this have to do with pregnancy?

Well, we already know that when we eat food that has been under stress, stress signals are passed up the food chain in a concept called xenohormesis.  This leads to the organism becoming more stressed because of the food they are eating.

In this particular study, researchers looked at what effect stress had on the offspring of rats.  The results do not bode well for the overly stressed human population of the developing world.  They found that a stressful exposure led to changes in the brain up to THREE generations later.

These changes were not changes in the genetics of the rats’ offspring, but rather the manner in which the genes were expressed.  Let’s look at it this way.  As a human, we do not have genes that predestine us to be obese.  But clearly we all have the potential to become obese.  This is not genetic, but rather it is the way our genes are behaving (and behaving badly, at that…) that produces the obesity.

When brought into this study and used in the obesity example, it would mean that you are obese because your great grandfather was obese.

Now, it’s not that simple for obesity and it’s certainly not be that simple for stress.  But imagine the ramifications if this is true.  Being a stress monster in your life may lead your child to respond poorly to stress in their lives.

Kind of puts stress into perspective, huh?

With this in mind, what could you possibly be stressing about that is THAT important?

SURPRISING PROBLEM WITH FERTILITY TREATMENTS

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The number of couples using assisted reproduction techniques (ART) continues to go up.  The problem is that, in most cases, the reason the couple cannot get pregnant is lifestyle.  While they exist, few represent true problems with the ability to reproduce, vs the ability to reproduce RIGHT NOW.

As an example, polycystic ovarian syndrome accounts for a large proportion of the cases of infertility.  This is strongly associated with being prediabetic.  To do the right thing, you address the prediabetic lifestyle in order to allow pregnancy to occur.  Trying to force a pregnancy on a body that is not ready for it can lead to problems.  It’s just really, really not a good idea to mess with Mother Nature in this way.

To understand this current article, we need to understand a process called methylation, which uses factors such as folic acid and B12 to put “marks” onto regions of DNA to turn them on or off.  This allows liver cell DNA, which contains all the information to perform the functions of every other type of cell, to only do “liver” stuff and not “brain” stuff.

This process also occurs in our reproductive cells (sperm and oocyte), where methylation is turned on and off at critical points in the transition from production of the reproductive cells to fertilization to the time spent in the womb.  This process can be called “imprinting” in that it allows messages not contained in the DNA to be passed on to the next generation.

The problem with certain ART procedures is that they may grab these cells at the inappropriate times when the methylation “imprinting” is not present.  Thus, adaptive traits that may protect the newborn may be lost.

While this concept is evolving, I can’t see that the outcome is a good thing, and may be one of the reasons why we see increased risk of preterm labor as well as increased risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes in children conceived through ART.

Let me give a good example.  Had a couple as patients a few years back.  Somehow the topic came up of pregnancy in an office visit and there was obvious tension between the two.  Turns out that they had been trying and her OB was pushing her towards ART.  Well, we did a diet history, made some changes and put her on a high quality prenatal.  Two months later I had a thank you card delivered to me and some 8 months later their little daughter was born.

Had this couple gone through ART, it is impossible to say if the outcome would have been different.  But the bottom line is that ART was NOT what was needed.  Lifestyle was what was needed.

Read more…

UNUSUAL CONTRIBUTOR TO AUTISM

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There has been much discussion over autism in recent years.  One point that has become less and less debatable is that the risk of autism is going up.  The “why,” however, is heavily debated.  Some like to blame single effects like mercury in vaccination.  The answer is almost certainly multifactorial.

The unfortunate aspect is that exposure to environmental chemicals in the womb coupled with poor nutritional status is affecting the genetic expression of the as-yet unborn child.  These changes are called “epigentic” changes because they do not change our actual DNA, but rather the way our genes express themselves.  A famous study looked at exposure of agouti mice to BPA (the chemcial used in clear plastic water bottles).  The exposure completely changed the outcome of the newborn mice–they were born yellow (meaning they had a very high risk of obesity, diabetes and cancer).  However, when folic acid was given to these mices along with the BPA, the mice were born normal.

So, environmental chemicals can unquestionably alter the outcome of the baby if the exposure is during critical times of development.  This particular study looks at a pregnant mother living in close proximity to freeways and the risk of autism.  The ones closer to the freeways had twice the risk of a child being diagnosed with autism.  Living close to a freeway will increase the mom’s potential exposure to particulate matter from exhaust fumes.

Bottom line is that, in pregnancy as well as the rest of our lives, we need to do our best to avoid as manner chemicals as possible on top of eating a diet very high in phytonutrients.