Exercising regularly can change not only your waistline, but also how your genes work.
One study focused on a pair of identical twins who had the same genetic make-up but different locomotion methods.
The researchers said their findings could help explain the long-term effects of exercise on health.
Healthier twins have differences in the epigenome that affect gene expression, and epigenetic marks are associated with lower metabolic syndrome, a condition that can lead to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. .
This study suggests that markers of metabolic disease are strongly influenced by a person’s way of life, not just genetic inheritance.
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Michael Skinner, a Washington State University biologist and lead author of the study, wrote: “This finding provides a molecular mechanism for the link between physical activity and metabolic disease. increase.
“Exercise is known to reduce susceptibility to obesity, but it now appears that exercise through epigenetics affects many cell types, many of which are involved in metabolic disease. “
Researchers took cheek swabs from 70 pairs of identical twins who also participated in the Washington State Twin Registry exercise study.
They used fitness trackers to measure physical activity and participants’ waistline and body mass index.
Many twin pairs were found to be discordant in physical activity, neighborhood walkability, and BMI measures. That means they were different from each other.
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Twins with high levels of physical activity, defined as 150 minutes or more of exercise per week, had epigenetic changes in regions called DNA methylated regions that correlated with decreased BMI and waist circumference.
These regions are also associated with more than 50 genes already identified to be specific for vigorous physical activity and metabolic risk factors.
Scientists have previously noted that most identical twins, even if they have the same genes, develop different diseases as they age.
Epigenetics may help explain why, Skinner said.
“If genetics and DNA sequencing were the only driving forces in biology, then essentially twins should get the same disease, but they don’t.
“That means there must be an environmental influence on the twins that is driving the development of the disease.”
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