EATING RIGHT: EIGHT PRINCIPLES OF FOOD AND HEAlTH 233PRINCIPLE #4Genes do not determine disease on their own.
Genes function only by being activated, or expressed,
and nutrition plays a critical role in determining which genes,
good and bad, are expressed.I can safely say that the origin of every single disease is genetic. Our genes
are the code to everything in our bodies, good and bad. Without genes,
there would be no cancer. Without genes, there would be no obesity, dia-
betes or heart disease. And without genes, there would be no life.
This might explain why we are spending hundreds of millions of dol-
lars trying to figure out which gene causes which disease and how we
can silence the dangerous genes. This also explains why some perfectly
healthy young women have had their breasts removed simply because
they were found to carry genes that are linked to breast cancer. This
explains why the bulk of resources in science and health in the past
decade has shifted to genetic research. At Cornell University alone $500
million is being raised to create a "Life Sciences Initiative." This initia-
tive promises to "forever change the way life-science research is con-
ducted and taught at the university." What is one of the main thrusts of
the program? Integrating each scientific discipline into the all-encom-
passing umbrella of genetic research. It is the largest scientific effort in
Cornell's history. 11
Much of this focus on genes, however, misses a simple but crucial
point: not all genes are fully expressed all the time. If they aren't activat-
ed, or expressed, they remain biochemically dormant. Dormant genes
do not have any effect on our health. This is obvious to most scientists,
and many laypeople, but the significance of this idea is seldom under-
stood. What happens to cause some genes to remain dormant, and oth-
ers to express themselves? The answer: environment, especially diet.
To reuse a previous analogy, it is useful to think of genes as seeds. As
any good gardener knows, seeds will not grow into plants unless they
have nutrient-rich soil, water and sunshine. Neither will genes be ex-
pressed unless they have the proper environment. In our body, nutrition
is the environmental factor that determines the activity of genes. As we
saw in chapter three, the genes that cause cancer were profoundly im-
pacted by the consumption of protein. In my research group, we learned