Smoking is one of the main causes of cancer and heart disease. But, not many people know that smoking can permanently alter the DNA. Not merely changing the DNA permanently. It can also be associated with a number of serious health problems.
Researchers at the US National Institute of Environmental Health have evaluated the test results of approximately 16,000 people in 16 studies. Dr. Normal Edelman an adviser of the American Lung Association said, that smoking has a broad impact huge on your genes.
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| Smoking can alter the DNA permanently. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1fQcCh) |
Furthermore, he says, most are reversible or a process that can be reversed by means of a very small change in some property of the system, but some do not. So, if you smoke, it will change genetically in ways that are not completely reversible.
"There are cases where, after five years of quitting smoking, the gene has not recovered fully or leave a genetic trail," said Dr. Normal Edelman as quoted of Times of India on Monday, November 7, 2016.
Speaking of these genetic markers, the researchers say, these signs are caused by methylation. It is an evolutionary process of DNA that can disable the genes or modify its function, which cause diseases such as cancer.
Meanwhile, Roby Joehanes of Hebrew SeniorLife and Harvard Medical School said, by quitting smoking is still better than nothing. According to him, after you quit smoking, the vast majority of DNA methylation signal never came back after five years. "Which means, your body is trying to heal itself from the harmful effects of smoking," he said. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | TIMES OF INDIA]
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