Epigenetics: Study says exercise can make genes better

A study with identical twins suggests that the habit of doing physical exercise may provide epigenetic benefits and minimize the development of metabolic syndromes. The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports🇧🇷

Scientifically, epigenetics is a field of research that evaluates the impact of environmental factors on the expression or silencing of genes in our DNA.

Some genes may remain dormant throughout our lives or be activated by external factors, such as the environment you live in, eating habits, and physical exercise, as reinforced by the new study.

As part of this scenario, researchers from Washington State University (WSU) conducted a study of 70 pairs of identical twins who tracked their exercise habits between 2012 and 2019.

In most cases, the twins did not share the same health and exercise habits as well as living in different places.

They provided DNA samples collected from the cheeks several times throughout the study. In the analyses, the researchers observed that more physically active twins had reduced epigenetic markers for metabolic syndromes.

As identical twins, considering genetics alone, both should produce the same results, regardless of the stimuli such as the environment and physical exercise involved.

But that didn’t happen. For researchers, these results provide strong evidence in favor of the role of physical exercise in inducing epigenetic changes in individuals.

Exercise acted as a protective factor not only in weight management but also at the molecular level against the development of metabolic syndromes that can lead to heart problems, type 2 diabetes and stroke.

Despite the positive aspects of the study, however, the researchers assess that more research is needed in this area to better understand how these processes occur and how epigenetics can actually contribute to our health.