Harvey had joined the majority of men by losing head hair in what is called male pattern baldness.

Two out of three men lose hair by an “M” pattern receding hair line and loss of hair on the crown of the head.

Harvey did not realize that his condition could be caused by a gene inherited from his mother.

Fortunately, it was a benign or harmless condition.

There are more than 4,000 diseases which may be inherited by single gene expression.
Happily, most of them are very rare, occurring in only one instance in several thousands of live births.

Hemophilia and muscular dystrophy are two of the very serious inherited diseases which, like male pattern baldness, may be inherited by the same mechanism.

We have become so accustomed to the idea of giving credit to our inheritance for undesirable features or behavior that we may excuse ourselves with, “Oh, it’s in my genes!”

It has now become well established that our lifestyle choices affect how our genes help or hinder us.

The science of epigenetics is founded on that concept.

Research studies by Dr. Dean Ornish illustrate how our genes may be changed by our lifestyle choices.

Ornish knew that many plant foods seem to reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

He also knew that many animal foods – namely milk, cheese, eggs, fish and other meats have been shown to increase the risk of dying from prostate cancer.

In 2008 he found 30 men who had low-risk prostate cancer and were willing to not have the usual treatments of surgery, radiation or chemotherapy.

These 30 men then had “gene scans” of all 23,888 of their genes.

And they agreed to be put on a change of lifestyle.

Their diet was exclusively plant-based.

They ate whole grains, fruits, vegetables, soy and legumes.

They exercised moderately (such as walking) for half an hour a day and engaged in stress reduction activity such as meditation for an hour a day.

At the end of three months these 30 men again underwent “gene scans.”

The scans showed that 501 genes had been changed as compared to the first scans.
The DNA sequencing of the amino acids remained the same but the genes had been chemically modified – 453 genes had been turned off and 48 genes had been turned on with a net result of less susceptibility to prostate cancer.

Dr. Ornish is a faculty member at the University of California in San Francisco.

His research has been published in the journal of the American Urology Association.

His previous studies had shown that a group of men on the plant-based diet and exercise had experienced salutary reductions in their blood PSA levels compared to the control group.

Some members of the control group found it necessary to drop out of the study project because their tumors were growing.

None of the members of the veggie diet group suffered that fate. Now in his later studies he has shown that our lifestyle choices can change how our genes will function and affect our lives.

Bill Bradford retired to the rigors of a small farm in Pokagon Township.
He has served as director of clinical laboratories in physician group practices and hospitals.