Epigenetics

Epigenetics is new field of study in science which looks at the study of changes in the gene expression that are not caused by the DNA sequence. These genes are turned "on" or "off" by your diet, lifestyle, stress, environmental factors and you parent's health. Genes take hundreds of years to change over many generations of family members. Epigenetics has found that people's DNA remains unchanged even though certain disease types and characteristics change in only one generation. What does this mean to you and me? This means we are in control of what happens to our body more than we ever thought was possible. Just because you have a predisposition to developing cancer doesn't mean you will get cancer. You need to be more proactive in your diet, lifestyle, etc, to make sure you don't get cancer.

Based on epigenetic studies, science has discovered if your mother had any autoimmune antibodies present when she was pregnant with you, you will be predisposed to developing an autoimmune condition. This is why I think Autism and ASD is on the rise in out population today. Many people have an autoimmune condition and are completely unaware because most doctors are not looking for autoimmune condition on blood work.

As I mentioned earlier, autoimmune disease can not be cured, but it can be kept to a minimal level of expressing itself. As a doctor, what I want to know is, "what is causing the body to attack itself?". This is where functional medicine testing comes into play.