INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF GENES I – NUTRITION AND SPORT
WHY IS IT GOOD TO KNOW THE DNA OF THE CHILD AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS?
Every parent wants only the best for their child, but every child is unique and different from others. It has unique requirements for nutrients, dietary and sports predispositions, sleep cycle or reacts differently to stressful situations. This uniqueness is due to the random combination of genes that a child receives from its parents. Such genes can be combined in different ways and can have a different number of mutations. Sometimes these mutations have no effect on a person's life, sometimes they mean an advantage or a disadvantage for the child, and sometimes they are the reason for health complications.
SO CAN WE DO SOMETHING SO THAT OUR CHILD INHERITS ONLY THE BEST GENES?
This is something that many parents dream of. The truth is that we cannot really influence what genes a child inherits from their parents, but if we know these genes, we can influence how we can work with this information.
One large study of identical twins at Duke University found that if one twin develops Alzheimer's disease in their 70s, the other has only a 40% risk of developing the same disease. Since identical twins have completely identical genetic information, this different risk of developing the disease is due to their different lifestyle and the environment in which they live.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MY FAMILY'S HEALTH?
Basically, it is a similar principle as in the studies mentioned above. Generations of the same family often operate in similar environments with similar habits and lifestyles. They share part of their genetic information with the next and the next generation. This means that predispositions to hereditary diseases or medical conditions are passed down through generations. In the end, it is the children whose health and overall prosperity we can influence the most. They are lucky enough to have their whole lives to choose the lifestyle that is most suitable for them. In order to know what is best for our children, we clearly need it know their genetic information.
How we work with genetic information will also affect expression of the genes themselves. Nowadays we are thanks DNA analysis able to find out the genetic information of an individual and subsequently work with his genetic predispositions. However, science has already taken another step forward and revealed that our lifestyle even affects the switching on and off of some genes. The scientific department deals with this topic in detail epigenetics, which examines like ours nutrition, behavior, environment in which we live and lifestyle they affect the expression (activation) of our genes. However, epigenetics is a science that requires a separate topic, and over time we will address it in a separate article.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW THE GENETIC INFORMATION OF THE CHILD AS WELL AS THE PARENTS?
The answer is really simple. The more generations we know, the more effectively we can work with the child's genetic predispositions. Therefore, it is necessary to treat the family as whole and to know the DNA of as many family members as possible, especially when it comes to the health of the youngest.
Let's now take a closer look at the first two selected hereditary traits, which is worth watching and that movement and nutrition.
How can I choose a suitable sport for my child?
Does my child have the same sporting predispositions as me?
Can he excel in sports or should he devote himself to it more on a hobby level?
Does my child have the warrior gene, can he handle pressure?
Let's look a little deeper. For many years, both the scientific and the sports community have been convinced that genetic factors undoubtedly influence a person's sports performance.
There are several studies that have looked at differences in individual sports performance within families, including twins. Their result was that genetic factors can have up to 80% influence on the level of sports performance of individuals.
There are more and more studies that look at the connections between genetic factors and sports performance in children and adolescents. Among parents and coaches, the idea of taking into account the results of a child's DNA analysis when choosing a sport occurs more and more often.
Sports performance is one of the most complex human characteristics, as it is affected by several systems of the human body (musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, etc.). However, when we look at a strength and endurance athlete, their body structure is visibly different, which is precisely why their different musculoskeletal system. And exactly this system is to a very high degree influenced by genetic predisposition.
Experts believe there is a gene that separates good athletes from great ones.
This gene has a name ACTN3 and it is the gene encoding the alpha-actin 3 protein that plays an important role in muscle mass grows. The ACTN3 gene determines the predominant type of muscle fibers an individual has. It is known that humans have two types of muscle fibers, namely slow muscle fibers (type I) and fast muscle fibers (type II). Slow muscle fibers are characterized by long endurance, and fast muscle fibers, on the other hand, are designed for strength and dynamism. Each child has two copies of the ACTN3 gene. She inherited one from her father and the other from her mother. This means that your child may be a born sprinter, an endurance athlete or a combination of both. From the DNA analysis, we can predict in which sport your child could do well, and maybe it is the same sport that is suitable for you as well.
Another gene that has a demonstrable effect on the performance of our organism is the gene for ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme). This enzyme is responsible for the production of the hormone angiotensin, which regulates blood circulation (renin-angiotensin system). The study of different variants of the ACE gene also revealed "endurance" variant, successful Himalayan mountaineers are endowed with it (the so-called mountaineer gene). American studies have shown that the body of a carrier of the "endurance" variant of the gene for the ACE enzyme responds to hard training with a significant by increasing physical condition.
In this article, we will show you how your decision-making in the training process is influenced by genetics and how to adapt training to it really individually. My name is Pavol Pavlovič, I am the founder of the DNA4FIT brand and, among other things, a former long-time coach of elite youth aged 14-18. After many years of experience in the training process of children and adults, I can say with certainty that only individual training, even in collective sports, is the right way to effectively use the potential of every athlete. Enjoy a little taste of what genetic analysis can do today.
When we talk about endurance sports, we must not forget the often decisive parameter, namely VO2 max potential.
VO2max determines the value of the maximum volume of oxygen that the athlete is able to use. The higher this value, the higher the athlete's performance potential.
The influence of heredity on a human trait is generally considered to be an estimate of the importance of genetic factors for a given trait. As for aerobic endurance and thus VO2max potential, the DNA equipment of the athlete in question has an influence on this value up to 50%.
Just for interest human height which is also very important in several sports, is highly heritable and heredity has an effect on it up to 80%.
Let's take a look at one more important quality of an athlete, which is passed down through generations and that risk of injury.
The risk of soft tissue injury and the ability to recover from injury is another critical factor to consider when choosing an appropriate sport for a child. In addition to potentially affecting training time, the injury can have long-term consequences for the child.
Soft tissues they are, for example, muscles, heart, blood vessels, tissues around joints, bones, but also parts of the nervous system.
Several neurological studies have found that people who suffered multiple concussions in childhood show more brain abnormalities and faster cognitive decline in adulthood than people who did not suffer a concussion in childhood.
We talked about genetics in sports. Sports predispositions such as VO2max potential, heart capacity, warrior gene, muscle structure, muscle volume gene, muscle fatigue gene, regeneration after training and the risk of soft tissue injury are interestingly hereditary. When choosing a sport and planning training or in order to achieve goals in sports, it is advisable to know not only the genetics of the child but also the parents.
You can get all this information about your genes just by taking a simple saliva sample in the comfort of your home, and our team will do the rest for you. You can find out more information in SPORT system.
But sport also goes hand in hand with nutrition and this is very often a stumbling block for children.
Should my child eat the same diet as me?
Can I find out which diet helps and which harms my child?
PICKY EATER
Happy are those parents whose child happily eats every food that is put on the plate. However, the truth is that there are not many such children, and often times a child's picky tongue is the reason for parental frustration. Environment and habits are known to play an important role in shaping an individual's taste buds.
The fact is that small children already start life with an aversion to bitter and sour tastes. But the truth is that many people are genetically predisposed by nutrition to being picky long before they encounter their first plate of Brussels sprouts.
This is also said in a study in which scientists followed 66 pairs of twins aged 4-7 years and revealed that their picky taste has influence of genetics and the rest is the influence of the environment.
Another similar research showed that genetics also has an influence on the so-called neophobia, which is the fear of trying new foods. Specifically, in children it is up to 78% influence of genes on the development of neophobia and in adults the influence of genes 69% indicates that the influence of genes on food neophobia is constant throughout life.
The extent to which we are picky eaters is mainly influenced by how we perceive bitter taste.
Some children are carriers of genes that apparently they increase sensitivity to bitter taste and predispose children to seek out sweet foods.
In one interesting study from 2020 Julia Mennell and her colleagues offered 5- to 10-year-olds a variety of sweet and bitter-tasting drinks and found that their taste preferences were related to their gene variant TAS2R38, which is the region that codes for individual sensitivity to certain bitter-tasting compounds, incl propylthiouracil (PROP).
The compound propylthiouracil (PROP) gives foods such as cabbage vegetables or various cheeses a bitter taste. These results were complemented by other studies and confirmed that children who can detect the PROP compound in food are more prone to consumption sweet foods.
Furthermore, it has been shown that children can perceive a bitter taste, which is so weak that adults do not feel it at all. This finding may also indicate the fact that your child may have inherited picky genes from you, even if you are no longer picky as an adult.
If we manage to teach a child with a more sensitive perception of bitter taste to accept, for example, cabbage vegetables, it will have an impact on his immune system for several reasons. In addition to the fact that this vegetable contains a large amount of vitamins, it also contains prebiotics or fiber. Prebiotics are direct food for the intestinal tract microbiome, which plays a very important role in the immune system. Therefore, we should think not only about sufficient income probiotic bacteria but also for their nutrition in the form of prebiotics or fiber from a diet rich in it.
DOES THIS MEAN WE CAN'T HELP CHILDREN OVERCOME THEIR PICKIES AND TEACH THEM TO ACCEPT NEW FOODS?
On the contrary! In fact, the degree of pickiness can vary in different societies, and studies show that individual experiences are important factors that shape the way children respond to food.
To a large extent, the mother can influence this already in prenatal and neonatal period of the baby's life. Research has proven that the fetus in the mother's womb can feel the taste of food which the mother has consumed and the food flavor is also transmitted through breast milk during breastfeeding. In the end, your child may have received the picky genes from you. Which means that you also have to look at your own food preferences and take that into account when preparing meals for your children.
Each age category of children has specific requirements. Children from the age of 3 already eat more or less than their parents. Congenital or inherited predispositions to a suitable food group, reaction to carbohydrates, fats in the diet, requirements for nutrients - minerals, vitamins, taste perception and even the child's eating habits can also be found inSystem Complex.
Knowledge of genes of the child and his parents, should be completely the first step on the way how to provide the child with quality nutrition and thus support health and prevention against possible diseases.
Dear parents, in this article we will focus on the topic of how the genetics of the child and parents affect the overall prosperity of children and how we can best help children improve their health, avoid eating mistakes, help achieve better performance in school, in sports or in life in general. Children require more of our attention also based on their genetic predispositions, which make them unique.
DNA ANALYSIS USING WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCE
Our company DNA4fit offers you world-class DNA analysis using Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS). This type of sequencing allows your entire genome to be mapped. With any other sequencing method, the 99% does not consider your data at all. Your DNA is made up of more than 6 billion individual sites called nucleotides. The exact sequence of nucleotides in your DNA defines every characteristic of your body. From your height and weight, to the color of your eyes, to how fast you age, it even affects your choice of partner. WGS is a method that reads each of those 6 billion locations, one by one, giving you a comprehensive view of how your body is working.
For more information, we have prepared a separate article on this topic in our magazine Slovak DNA analysis based on world-class quality.
Authors: Mgr. Lenka Zingorova, genetics, Pavol Pavlović, CEO of DNA4FIT
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