Dirty Genes – by Ben Lynch, ND

Even with a full set of interpreted data from a personal genomics service, understanding one’s own genetic information can be daunting. This book aims to make it less so, and give practical tools to help make the most of the genes we have.

The author explains the common functions of an assortment of important genes, and what they can do. With an emphasis on “can”, because every gene will have a lot more possibilities than actualities. This is partly because of the co-influencing factors of other genes, and partly because just because we have a certain gene, doesn’t mean it is expressed a certain way.

Genes are just the blueprints, after all, and the body can and often will disregard one set of instructions to do something else, especially in the case of genes with hormonally-mediated expression. In other words, those genes whereby they’ll have “if this, then that” instructions, that may be dependent on your levels of a given hormone; maybe estrogen, maybe a thyroid hormone, maybe cortisol, you get the idea. A wide array of lifestyle factors can also play a huge part. The gut microbiome can alter gene expression, too. And so on.

The main thrust of this book, therefore, is to understand some of the most important on/off switches to be aware of, and what to do in order to switch them the way you want.

Once you’ve got to grips with such mighty genes as the MTHFR and the DAO to name just a couple from the first “laundry list”, you’ll also dive into single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), pronounced “snips” to their friends. These are specific bits of genes that can be a little bit different, and are often used as markers for traits/risks in health genomics. The same approach is then taken with regard to knowing what to do to make the most of benefits / minimize risks.

The style is lighter pop-science than you might be expecting, similar perhaps to what you read here at 10almonds, and the bibliography is a little more modest than you might expect too.

Bottom line: if you’re looking for deep science, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking for a practical guide to demystifying your genes, SNPs, and relevant epigenetic factors, then this book makes things very clear and comprehensible.

Click here to check out Dirty Genes, and work your way through those laundry lists!