Exercise & Caffeine, + your DNA!

[Evicious]

Found this article at random on ScienceDaily:

 

Exercise and Caffeine Change Your DNA in the Same Way, Study Suggests

 

Mar. 6, 2012 — You might think that the DNA you inherited is one thing that you absolutely can't do anything about, but in one sense you'd be wrong. Researchers reporting in the March issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, have found that when healthy but inactive men and women exercise for a matter of minutes, it produces a rather immediate change to their DNA. Perhaps even more tantalizing, the study suggests that the caffeine in your morning coffee might also influence muscle in essentially the same way.

 

The underlying genetic code in human muscle isn't changed with exercise, but the DNA molecules within those muscles are chemically and structurally altered in very important ways. Those modifications to the DNA at precise locations appear to be early events in the genetic reprogramming of muscle for strength and, ultimately, in the structural and metabolic benefits of exercise.

"Our muscles are really plastic," says Juleen Zierath of Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. "We often say "You are what you eat." Well, muscle adapts to what you do. If you don't use it, you lose it, and this is one of the mechanisms that allows that to happen."

 

The DNA changes in question are known as epigenetic modifications and involve the gain or loss of chemical marks on DNA over and above the familiar sequence of As, Gs, Ts, and Cs. The new study shows that the DNA within skeletal muscle taken from people after a burst of exercise bears fewer chemical marks (specifically methyl groups) than it did before exercise. Those changes take place in stretches of DNA that are involved in turning "on" genes important for muscles' adaptation to exercise.

 

When the researchers made muscles contract in lab dishes, they saw a similar loss of DNA methyl groups. Exposure of isolated muscle to caffeine had the same effect.

 

Zierath explained that caffeine does mimic the muscle contraction that comes with exercise in other ways, too. She doesn't necessarily recommend anyone drink a cup of joe in place of exercise. It's nevertheless tempting to think that athletes who enjoy a coffee with their workout might just be on to something.

 

Broadly speaking, the findings offer more evidence that our genomes are much more dynamic than they are often given credit for. Epigenetic modifications that turn genes on and back off again can be incredibly flexible events. They allow the DNA in our cells to adjust as the environment shifts.

 

"Exercise is medicine," Zierath says, and it seems the means to alter our genomes for better health may be only a jog away. And for those who can't exercise, the new findings might point the way to medicines (caffeinated ones, perhaps?) with similar benefits.

 

[NiklzNDimz]

It's a good thing I'm already deeply into one (caffeine) and working on the same with the other (exercise)!

In all seriousness, the big take away here is that there isn't some point of no return when it comes to exercise. Regardless of when it was that you last were an active/fit person, you can get it back as long as you do something about it.

[BreadMage]

Woohoo!!!! I love coffee and I love lifting (even though I have been on hiatus). What a great combination for me

[Paininabox]

As a biology major, I was a little bit surprised that one bout of excercise in a sedentary person really "reprogram [the] muscle for strength".  After reading the actual study, I think this news article is a bit misleading.  Yes, there are changes in methylation patterns in muscle genome, but it isn't specifically linked to creating muscle strength.  Firstly, the test they used checked the whole genome, not just known muscle related genes.  Secondly, I can't really imagine that your muscle, even on a sedentary person, is not ultimately programmed for strength; your body simply cuts down your unnecessary muscle mass that isn't being used.  Thirdly, epigenetic modifications are extremely frequent, and their main purpose is to change the "marching orders" of the cell.  It isn't surprising that muscle cells after excercise have to change up their game plan, likely because they need to replenish energy stores and replace damaged proteins.  Lastly, I think what is really happening is that the muscle cells divided a little bit to repair muscle, as this is what happens that increases muscle mass after excercise.  Because newly divided cells have half of their genome completely unmethylated until the cell gets around to fixing it, I think what the study is actually measuring is the amount of new DNA in new muscle cells that haven't yet had a chance to acclimate like the older cell population.  However this is all speculation.

 

Overall, even if I'm misinterpreting everything, changes in epigenetics aren't you conquering or modyfiing your DNA in any meaningful way.  Epigenetic changes are like opening and closing doors and windows in your house to change air flowing through.  They're easy to do, can easily be reversed, and ultimately the house (DNA) is still the same, you're just changing the way it is used.  That was a strange metaphor...

[Evicious]

As a biology major, I was a little bit surprised that one bout of excercise in a sedentary person really "reprogram [the] muscle for strength".  After reading the actual study, I think this news article is a bit misleading.  Yes, there are changes in methylation patterns in muscle genome, but it isn't specifically linked to creating muscle strength.  Firstly, the test they used checked the whole genome, not just known muscle related genes.  Secondly, I can't really imagine that your muscle, even on a sedentary person, is not ultimately programmed for strength; your body simply cuts down your unnecessary muscle mass that isn't being used.  Thirdly, epigenetic modifications are extremely frequent, and their main purpose is to change the "marching orders" of the cell.  It isn't surprising that muscle cells after excercise have to change up their game plan, likely because they need to replenish energy stores and replace damaged proteins.  Lastly, I think what is really happening is that the muscle cells divided a little bit to repair muscle, as this is what happens that increases muscle mass after excercise.  Because newly divided cells have half of their genome completely unmethylated until the cell gets around to fixing it, I think what the study is actually measuring is the amount of new DNA in new muscle cells that haven't yet had a chance to acclimate like the older cell population.  However this is all speculation.

 

Overall, even if I'm misinterpreting everything, changes in epigenetics aren't you conquering or modyfiing your DNA in any meaningful way.  Epigenetic changes are like opening and closing doors and windows in your house to change air flowing through.  They're easy to do, can easily be reversed, and ultimately the house (DNA) is still the same, you're just changing the way it is used.  That was a strange metaphor...

 

Yay, I was hoping someone like you was on NF!!! :-D Not being a biology major myself, I'm happy you shared your knowledge on the topic: I could read the actual study a hundred times over and still not have understood it like I do now, thanks to you.

 

Plus, it may be a strange metaphor, but if I ever come across the term "epigenetic change" again I'll actually understand the concept!

[Paininabox]

Hey, glad to help!  It's my opinion that our DNA always works in our favor.  If ever you despair because you feel like you're fighting uphill against your genome, just remember that that same disadvantage will probably let you survive better in a zombie apocalypse and all those gifted people that eat everything without negative effects will probably be 6 feet under while you're dual wielding sawed-off shotguns.  That always cheers me up.

[Evicious]

YEEEESSS!!! Dual-weilding FTW!!! :-D