By Bethann Hromatka, Ph.D.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2057" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/istock_000000628100xsmall-300x225.jpg" alt="DNA Strand" width="300" height="225" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/istock_000000628100xsmall-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/istock_000000628100xsmall.jpg 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
The MTHFR gene codes for a protein that helps people metabolize <a href="http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Folate-HealthProfessional/">B-vitamin folate</a> (also called folic acid or vitamin B9). Relatively common variations in the DNA sequence – the order of A’s, T’s, G’s and C’s in the gene – can impact how someone metabolizes folate and, in some instances, can impact your health.
<h6>More on Folate</h6>
People with slight impairments in folate metabolism are usually perfectly healthy since they consume enough folate in their diets to make up for their reduced ability to break it down.
But there are situations – namely during pregnancy – when women with a particular variation in the MTHFR gene called C677T should consume more folate to prevent birth defects. Although all pregnant women are advised to take folic acid supplements because this nutrient is vital for early fetal development, women with the C677T genetic variant appear to need even more of it.
<h6>MTHFR and Pregnancy</h6>
Scientists have also investigated if the MTHFR gene impacts a woman’s ability to carry a pregnancy to term, but findings aren’t completely convincing. Some <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22313097">studies</a> have found an association between miscarriage and MTHFR variants including C677T in certain populations, but other <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23209927">studies</a> have failed to see a connection. One <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21410812">study</a> added a twist by suggesting that some MTHFR variants predispose for <a href="http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/birthdefects_chromosomal.html">chromosomal abnormalities</a> in the embryo that are incompatible with life and lead to miscarriage. But this study was relatively small and has not been replicated.
Some prospective mothers with a history of miscarriages are being told to test for MTHFR variants with the advice that it &#8216;can&#8217;t hurt.&#8217; But the evidence is that <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/our-take-on-the-mthfr-gene">MTHFR gene testing might not actually do any good</a> either.
Regardless of whether the MTHFR variants influence miscarriage, low folate levels and <a href="http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/h/hyperhomocysteinemia/intro.htm">hyperhomocysteinemia</a> in the mother have been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2890227/">linked to</a> recurrent miscarriage. Some women may undergo testing for folate levels or hyperhomocysteinemia if they’ve had multiple miscarriages.
Understanding why miscarriage occurs in the first place is still an active area of research. At least <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21766758">half of miscarriages</a> arise due to major genetic abnormalities in the embryo (for instance missing an entire chromosome). But other factors such as hormonal changes, diet, or whether a woman drinks alcohol or smokes, may also play a role.
Researchers have also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3199180/">studied</a> the MTHFR gene in the context of male infertility. But similar to the case of miscarriage, there isn’t convincing evidence that genetic differences in this gene influence fertility in men.
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<h6>The Role of MTHFR in Health<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-7952" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/health_caduceus.png" alt="health_caduceus" width="69" height="122" /></h6>
The <a href="http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/MTHFR">MTHFR gene</a> codes for a protein called methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase that converts one form of folate (5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate) into a different form of folate (5-methyltetrahydrofolate).
This step in folate metabolism is required for another chemical reaction in the body &#8212; specifically for the conversion of an amino acid called homocysteine into another amino acid called methionine that is important for building proteins.
Mutations that cause the MTHFR protein to malfunction may in turn cause someone to accumulate too much homocysteine and develop a condition called hyperhomocysteinemia. Hyperhomocysteinemia has been<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2716415/"> tentatively linked</a> to a variety of conditions including cardiovascular disease, stroke, and Alzheimer&#8217;s disease.
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Bethann Hromatka

Pregnancy and MTHFR

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-19307" alt="For the live-updated, fully-labelled, interactive version of this infographic, click here." src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Migraine-Infographic.jpg" width="699" height="463" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Migraine-Infographic.jpg 699w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Migraine-Infographic-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 699px) 100vw, 699px" />
For the live-updated, fully-labelled, interactive version of this infographic, <a href="http://curetogether.com/migraine/ig/treatment-effectiveness-vs-popularity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">click here.</a>
Eight of the top ten patient-reported treatments for Migraine are simple lifestyle changes, not drugs. CureTogether – a free resource owned by 23andMe that allows people to share information about their health and treatments – surveyed more than 6,000 people who self-identify as having Migraine. They reported that interventions such as sleeping in <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-19308" alt="Migraine Photo" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Migraine-Photo-200x200.jpg" width="293" height="293">a dark, quiet room, avoiding smoke and red wine, and using ice packs helped them feel better.
Migraine can involve debilitating pain for many hours or days, sometimes interfering with work and day-to-day activities. Participants in the study said they found that prescription medications like Imitrex, Treximet, and DHE, as well as relaxation, hydration, <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/wellness/caffeine-consumption/">caffeine</a>, and exercise were among the most effective treatments. The survey also found that some common treatments such as alcohol, contraceptive pills, headstands, Paxil and Effexor XR actually made the symptoms of Migraine worse. 
 
The Migraine Research Foundation estimates that over ten percent of the population, including children, suffers from Migraine, with a frequency ranging from once a month to every day. Nearly one in four US households has a Migraine sufferer in it. The condition can be extremely painful and is not well
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Most Effective Rated Treatments for Patients with Migraine 
1. Dark, quiet room 
2. Sleep 
3. Eliminate red wine 
4. Passage of time 
5. Eliminate MSG 
6. Avoid smoke 
7. Wear sunglasses 
8. Intravenous DHE 
9. Imitrex injection 
10. Ice packs</div>
understood, and finding accurate recommendations on treatments that work well can be challenging, so CureTogether asked people who experience Migraine to rate the effectiveness of 204 different patient-reported treatments.
Where did this data come from? This is the result of a four-year CureTogether study on <a href="http://curetogether.com/migraine/symptoms/">Migraine</a>, in which 6,259 people shared information about their symptoms and what treatments worked best for them. We’d like to thank those who participated. And just as they shared their experience with treatments, we’re freely and openly sharing the results of the Migraine study.
This is part of a regular series of CureTogether <a href="http://curetogether.com/blog/category/research-findings/">research findings</a>. CureTogether’s research findings are different than 
associations with illness, traits and drug response. But as we continue our work with the CureTogether community, 23andMe hopes to incorporate more of this kind of self-reported information into our own
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-12163" title="small_23andMe_logo" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/JRBgdIBXKIeVIdETJrxYIw_ttam_logo.jpg" width="24" height="40">
23andMe customers can view their results in the Preliminary Research report on Migraines.
Not yet a customer? <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store">Visit our store!</a>
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research. CureTogether present its findings just as they are – patient-reported data – to stimulate discussion and generate new insights for further research.
Please tweet, blog, or pass this along to anyone who can benefit or is interested in Migraine. Thank you!

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

What Patients Say Works (And Doesn’t) for Migraines

By Matthew Cook, PhD 
Udacity Instructor
Get excited! After months of planning and production, Udacity and 23andMe are launching a new genetics course, Tales from the Genome, that will be ready and open to the world on Monday, September 30th.
The rapid pace of technological development makes genetics more clinically and personally useful. Understanding our own genetics gives us each an opportunity to make the most of this new age of personalized medicine.
Genetics is about the stories our genomes can tell—all the biological secrets wound up and efficiently packaged into information storage units called chromosomes. Together, we will uncover some of those secrets in Tales from the Genome.
The course will provide an essential foundation for genetics in a fun and engaging way. Instructors will talk to experts in the field and individuals with different traits, all in an effort to explain the sometimes complex science of genetics. Students will be grounded in the basics of DNA, the building blocks of life.
Here’s a look at some of the questions you will be able to answer by the end of the course: 
<iframe loading="lazy" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/sEXrjh-tme8" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<a id="docs-internal-guid-6d2d9966-29af-0b2f-39dd-95494f93d1f0" href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0068853" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Research shows</a> that genetics students with access to personal genetic information perform better on academic assessments. Therefore, we are excited to announce that 23andMe is sponsoring a sweepstakes in which a free personal genetics kit (a $99 value) will be given away to 50 eligible Tales from the Genome students.
Tales from the Genome is unlike any other course you will find online or in person. It will be open to the world starting on Monday, September 30th. For a glimpse of what you’ll experience in the class, check out our mini-lesson that shows you how to extract DNA from strawberries in your kitchen.
Good science to you all, and see you in class!
Mathew Cook earned his PhD at Duke University and trained as a post-doctoral scholar at UCSF. He joined the content development team at Udacity to share his passion for biology with the world.

Matthew Cook

Introducing Tales from the Genome on Udacity

Editor&#8217;s note: This post has been edited from its original to reflect changes in 23andMe&#8217;s product.
We’re posting a story about one of the participants in 23andMe’s <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-19281" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Esteban-Photo-11-196x300.jpg" alt="Esteban Photo 1" width="196" height="300" /> 

One day in April of 2011, Esteban Zapiain’s life changed forever.
“No one ever wants to hear their doctor say, ‘You have cancer,’” said Esteban.
The 62-year-old retired school technology director learned that day that he had something called Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, or CML. The rare blood cancer is one of a group of similar cancers known as myeloproliferative neoplasms or MPNs. These cancers occur due to the excessive production of “myeloid” blood cells in the bone marrow.
For Esteban the diagnosis was frightening, but it also drove him to act, and he joined 23andMe’s MPN Research Initiative.
“My motivation is to help find the causes and connections between those of us diagnosed and those yet to be diagnosed,” said Esteban.
There is a strong genetic component for these rare cancers and 23andMe hopes to use the data generated by our research initiative to better understand the causes and find new treatments for these diseases. While Esteban is hopeful for new discoveries from the research, he said joining has its own rewards.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-19282" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Esteban-Photo-5-179x300.jpg" alt="Esteban Photo 5" width="179" height="300" />
“Participating in this initiative was an integral part of my developing a coping strategy and positive attitude,” he said. “I refuse to let cancer defeat me. I cannot, and will not, live my life in fear. I will live for the joy of breathing, seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and feeling.”
Since starting the initiative about two years ago, 23andMe has recruited almost 1500 people with one of these rare blood cancers. 23andMe’s MPN Research Initiative now has the world’s largest group of genotyped MPN patients. Within months of enrolling patients, 23andMe began reporting out new findings from its research and we continue to work on new discoveries while enrolling more participants. (Enrollment is free for MPN patients.)
Many people with one of these rare cancers also have an acquired genetic mutation in the JAK2 gene called V617F. This mutation arises during the course of a person’s life as opposed to being a change in DNA that someone is born with. The JAK2 V617F mutation is currently used as a diagnostic marker of disease and numerous companies are developing<a href="http://journals.lww.com/oncology-times/Fulltext/2011/02250/JAK2_Inhibitors__Still_Need_to_Prove_Their_Mettle.9.aspx"> drugs to inhibit the activity of the JAK2</a> protein, though it is too early to tell if they will be successful.
Often people with one of these types of cancers don’t even know they have it. The symptoms are such that cancer can go undetected for years.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
MPN Research Initiative<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-9197" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/research_springboard.png" alt="research_springboard" width="108" height="87" />
Since our founding 23andMe has offered individuals the opportunity to explore their own DNA while also allowing them to contribute to groundbreaking genetic research.
Our work studying MPN is part of that mission. In the short time since launching the study we’ve enrolled almost 1,500 people with one of these rare blood cancers and are already gathering insights into the genetics of the disease. We&#8217;ve replicated and identified new <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/new-discoveries-about-rare-blood-disorders-from-23andme/">risk factors</a> for MPNs.<a href="https://www.23andme.com/mpn"></a>
</div>
In Esteban’s case, he said he wouldn’t have known he had cancer if it hadn’t been for the fact that he regularly donates blood. At one point, he was contacted by the blood bank informing him that he should talk to his doctor because of what they noticed in screening his blood. It’s profound, said Esteban that something he did to help potentially save someone else’s life, may have saved his own.
Since his diagnosis, Esteban and his doctors have been able to keep his cancer in check with new medication. He’s healthy and engaged. Esteban is the director of a mariachi band for which he plays the violin. He’s also appeared in several musical productions, including most recently a community production of Fiddler on the Roof, which won several awards.
And he continues to be positive. He’s been using 23andMe to delve into his own ancestry. Although his parents had always said he was 100 percent Mexican, his surname is Basque and Esteban has always wondered about his ancestry. Looking at his 23andMe results, he learned of his mixed ancestry that includes Native ancestry from South America and paternal ancestry that traces to the Berbers.
“My mother&#8217;s mother used to say, ‘The world&#8217;s big, we all fit,’&#8221; he said.
His decision to join the research initiative was about more than simply healing himself. In explaining his motivation, Esteban mentions something his parish priest says about little drops of water making up the ocean.
“Funny, but spit is much like a drop of water, together we are stronger than anyone of us alone,” he said.

An Ocean of Hope For MPN Research

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-19265 size-full" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-02-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1707" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-02-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-02-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-02-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-02-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-02-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-02-1180x787.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />
Mike Lattimore felt a mix of anxiety and dread about visiting Africa, so fraught it was with the scars of slavery.
But standing on the shores of what is known as the “Slave River” near the Cape Coast of Ghana, where men and women were once bathed before they were sold into slavery, Mike felt a sense of peace instead of horror.
“We had a ritual,” he said.
In his journey to explore his ancestry, Mike, a 57-year-old who lectures on cyber security, turned to 23andMe’s genetic testing to guide the way.
Using 23andMe’s ancestry tools, Mike learned more about his mixed heritage rooted in both Africa and Russia. The information has filled in big gaps in his family history and helped Mike add more pages to what he likes to call “The One Story” tracing back the lives of his ancestors.
“23and me pointed me in the right direction in terms of knowing which records to sift through, which direction to go,” he said.
Standing there with other African Americans, Mike felt he was answering the prayers of his ancestors, a plea that their children and children’s children would be better off than they were. He saw evidence of that answered prayer in his own life – his family, his job and the things he’d achieved–and in the fact that he was able to return to tell the story of what had happened there.
<div id="attachment_19260" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-19260" class="size-medium wp-image-19260" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-08-300x200.jpg" alt="A photo of Mike's mother in front of some art from Africa." width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-08-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-08-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-08-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-08-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mike-Lattimore-08-1180x787.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />A photo of Mike&#8217;s mother in front of some art from Africa.</div>
“It was a powerful and healing experience,” he said. “Good indeed did come out of that story. Light came out of the darkness of what happened there.”
His results from 23andMe didn’t just point him to Africa, but to his European ancestry and it reminded him of the interconnections of all people.
With his results he knew that his ancestors were likely from West Africa, but here was more than the science pointing him in that direction. When he walked among the Fante people he was overcome with a strong sense of kinship. They had the same orientation toward the water and fishing his own family had.
“I was struck by the people, there was something about the music and the energy it just felt right,” he said.
He knows that his E1a haplogroup points to ancestry in West Africa, but beyond the test results, Mike felt something deeper. He felt he was one of them.
The journey back to Africa capped a more than ten-year quest to discovery his ancestry, a hunt that included finding birth and death certificates in a rural town in Kentucky, contacts in Newfoundland and a convent in Baltimore.
The results from 23andMe also linked him to his mixed ancestry, one that is rooted in Africa, but includes both Jewish and, surprisingly to him, Scandinavian ancestry.
“My ancestors came from disparate places on the planet but all have lived the story of the struggle to seek a better life,” Mike said. “When I think about it, it gives me goose bumps because I am the sum total of all that they were, and now, I am the keeper of the memory.”
Some of that history Mike had heard from his own father. He heard about his great grandfather, Rush Green, who’d been owned by a man named Miller. Upon gaining his freedom his grandfather took the name “Green,” because he liked it.
“He told Papa, ‘a man has got the right to name his-self.’”
In his chronicling of his “One Story,” Mike has found his great grandfather’s grave in Paducah Kentucky, an “Aunt Minnie,” born in Russia whose native language was Yiddish, and records of his mother’s life being raised by the Oblate Sisters of Providence, an order of black Catholic nuns in Baltimore. He found records of his grandmother, Mary Brace, a white Canadian woman who had to give up his mother for adoption.
Through 23andMe he’s found relatives he didn’t know he had and he continues to fill in more pages of his family history.
“I strongly feel that we should invest in finding our ancestry because it really helps us as human beings not only to have a legacy that we can pass down but also to help with the healing,” Mike said. “Our country has experienced a great rift in that we have never fully investigated what happened. You’ve got to know where you’ve been so that you know where you’re going.”
23andMe provides genetic testing services for informational purposes; your results may or may not help you to search for or identify relatives or family members.

The Keeper Of Memory

Back in June we told you about an awesome new exhibit at the Smithsonian <a href="http://unlockinglifescode.org/">“Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code.”</a>  Maybe you didn’t want to take our word on it, but how about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/30/arts/design/genome-unlocking-lifes-code-at-the-smithsonian.html?_r=4&amp;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times.</a>
Last week the paper of record had a nice overview of the exhibit,  which goes a long way to up visitors genetic literacy and gives them a quick overview of how the genetic revolution continues to change our lives our health and our understanding of the human story.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-17048 size-full" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall.jpeg" alt="" width="406" height="296" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall.jpeg 406w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall-300x219.jpeg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 406px) 100vw, 406px" />
“(T)he cumulative effect is to inspire amazement about how much has happened in the last decade, how matter of factly we now seem to take it, and how much more is yet to come,” the writer Edward Rothstein said in the article.
As we mentioned back in June, the exhibit is presented in collaboration with the National Human Genome Research Institute. It also includes the contributions of other private foundations and companies including 23andMe. Included in the exhibit is collection of stories from 23andMe customers, who shared their experience of using DNA testing to learn more about themselves, their health and their ancestry.
“I’m pleased as punch,” said Neil Schwartzman, who found his biological sister, mother, father and half brother using 23andMe. “I just wish my adoptive parents were alive so that they could come and see it.”
<a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Neil’s story</a> –as well as the stories of eight other 23andMe customers – is included in a portion of the exhibit that looks at how individuals have used DNA to discover something new about their health or their ancestry. And what those discoveries have meant to their sense of self and their place in the world.
Check out the Times article and the exhibit if you get a chance.

Smithsonian Exhibit In The News

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-19175 size-large" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/exercise-illustration-1024x882.jpg" alt="Outline images of people doing various exercises." width="1024" height="882" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/exercise-illustration-1024x882.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/exercise-illustration-300x259.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/exercise-illustration-768x662.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/exercise-illustration-880x758.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/exercise-illustration-1180x1017.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
By Sheel Dandekar
Not convinced that those trips to the gym are making a difference?  Think again. In a recent<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3694844/"> study</a> in PloS Genetics, researchers from Lund University in Sweden found that exercising can change how the DNA in fat cells works.
<h6>Fate</h6>
With the growing number of links found between genetics and health, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that your genes determine your fate. That&#8217;s just not the case.
Genetics plays an important role in your health, but so do environmental influences.  This includes lifestyle factors, which you have control over (e.g. eating junk food, smoking), and factors that may be difficult to control (e.g. the quality of healthcare you receive).  To the extent to which we can dictate our environment, we have the power to change our risk for many common diseases
We frequently think about genetics and environment as two completely separate things — the classic nature vs. nurture debate. However, it turns out that genetics and environment can’t be neatly separated.
<h6>Epigenetic</h6>
A growing list of studies show that environmental factors can lead to lasting “epigenetic” changes, such as modification of the DNA base.  To understand how this can happen, consider that your DNA is just a blueprint, a set of instructions for making the various things your body needs.  Not all parts of the blueprint are actively being read in every cell.  A complex system of switches controls which parts are being decoded, and which parts remain unread.  Environmental factors can epigenetically modify DNA to determine whether or not those switches work.  For instance, a famous<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/moms-experience-affect-baby/"> study of children conceived during times of famine</a> found that a chemical modification known as methylation can last for decades.
So do these epigenetic changes only happen in extreme environmental conditions, such as famine?  The Lund study showed that simply exercising can change how the DNA in fat cells is read through the methylation of key genes.
They recruited 31 generally healthy but sedentary men and had them follow an exercise program for 6 months.  The program consisted of 1 session of a 1 hour spinning class and 2 sessions of a 1 hour aerobics class each week.  As one might expect, a number of clinical measurements (waist circumference, cholesterol, blood pressure) improved after 6 months of working out.
<h6>Metabolism</h6>
More surprisingly, when they compared the DNA from the men’s fat cells before and after the program, they found that significant portions of the DNA sequence had been methylated.  In particular, a number of genes suspected to play a role in obesity and type 2 diabetes were modified, and the authors suggested that these modifications might drive differences in metabolism in fat cells.
In demonstrating that exercise can alter DNA methylation in fat cells, this study raises some interesting questions. Previous work has shown that<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2808551/"> exercise can lead to epigenetic changes in muscle cells</a>.  What other types of cells show epigenetic changes after exercise, and what exercises are best? Finally, how long do these epigenetic changes last?
Further research may help to answer these questions and maximize the benefits of exercise. For now, take solace in the fact that your genetic code is just one factor to consider in your overall health, and that many other factors remain under your control.

Sheel Dandekar

Exercise Can Modify DNA in Fat Cells

Editor&#8217;s note: Alice dropped us a line to update us on her story. 
&#8220;23andme has helped me AGAIN with my ongoing search! If you&#8217;ll remember I&#8217;m adopted and found my bio mom via information I got from the 23andme test &#8211; but when I found my bio dad, it turns out HE was adopted too! Now I am on the trail of my father&#8217;s biological father.&#8221; 
Alice Toler is an accomplished artist and writer, but she calls herself a nerd of sorts. 
Really more than that – for most of her life Alice has felt disconnected from others, more like “an alien.”
“My mind doesn&#8217;t seem to work like other people&#8217;s,” Alice said. “Throughout my life I felt a little bit like I’d been beamed down from some other place. I later learned that a lot of adoptees feel like that – disconnected from others in some way.”
<div id="attachment_19163" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-19163" class="size-medium wp-image-19163" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Alice-T-at-7-w-her-dad-at-7-300x224.jpg" alt="Alice at 7 with a photo of her biological dad at the same age." width="300" height="224" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Alice-T-at-7-w-her-dad-at-7-300x224.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Alice-T-at-7-w-her-dad-at-7-768x574.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Alice-T-at-7-w-her-dad-at-7-1024x765.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Alice-T-at-7-w-her-dad-at-7-880x657.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Alice-T-at-7-w-her-dad-at-7-1180x881.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Alice at 7 with a photo of her biological dad at the same age.</div>
That feeling changed a bit recently when she met her birth mother for the first time with the help of 23andMe and a lot of detective work of her own.
So perhaps it was appropriate that Alice met her mother for the first time in the otherworldly landscape of the Black Rock desert in Nevada. For a week each year, this wasteland hosts an “ephemeral city” of tens of thousands of unconventional thinkers at the annual Burning Man festival, where West-coast tech gurus and professional engineers meet hippies and alien abductees to create some of the most ambitious interactive art on the planet. Though off-season and empty of revelers during their day spent there, the open desert provided a fittingly uncanny backdrop for the first intense exchange of information between a woman and her child, separated at birth.
“The experience was surreal,” Alice said. “She was so happy to meet me, and she has a friendly dorkiness to her that suddenly opened a window of understanding onto my own dorky personality. We are nerds together!”
The story of how Alice found her mother is long and complicated, involving decades of on-again and off-again searching. But her big break came after finding a distant cousin through 23andMe.
Although she was adopted by a British couple in the Bahamas, she turns out to have genetic family roots in New Mexico and also discovered she has Native American ancestry. Finding her birth mother and then her birth father, and learning about her ancestry, grounded her in a way she never thought possible.
“I went from having no information at all, to finding out that I have extensive recorded family lines on my mother&#8217;s side–in fact, my grandmother&#8217;s family is recorded all the way back to the Spanish conquistadors,” Alice said.
And her life is richer, she said.
“Most people only have two parents and two ancestral lines,” she said. “I have four parents, more cousins (both adoptive and genetic) than I can count, ancestral lines documented back hundreds of years, AND the challenge of a new mystery to solve. I am truly lucky.”

Connecting With The Past

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-19144 size-full" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/PMS1.jpg" alt="" width="566" height="848" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/PMS1.jpg 566w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/PMS1-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 566px) 100vw, 566px" />
By Alexandra Carmichael, Co-Founder of CureTogether 
Some of the most effective treatments for women with symptoms from Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), are also some of the simplest. CureTogether – a free resource owned by 23andMe that allows people to share information about their health and treatments – surveyed more than 1,000 women who reported having PMS who reported that interventions such as heat, Ibuprofen, massage, extra sleep, and even eating dark chocolate helped.
<div id="attachment_19148" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-19148" class="size-medium wp-image-19148" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/PMS-Graphic-300x193.jpg" alt="PMS Graphic" width="300" height="193" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/PMS-Graphic-300x193.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/PMS-Graphic.jpg 724w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />For the live-updated, fully-labelled, interactive version of this infographic, <a href="http://curetogether.com/pms/ig/treatment-effectiveness-vs-popularity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>.</div>
Symptoms for PMS can include both emotional and physical distress and range from mild to more severe and can sometimes interfere with day-to-day activities. Participants in the study said they found that over-the-counter pain relievers, heat from hot pads or a bath, and relaxing activities like massage and meditation were among the most effective treatments. The survey also found that exercise and some drugs like Cannabis and Fluoxetine helped some women. Conversely, some common treatments such as contraceptive pills, fish oil, and calcium were among the least effective, according to the study.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists estimates that at least 85 percent of menstruating women have at least 1 PMS symptom as part of their monthly cycle. It can be painful and embarrassing to talk about, and finding accurate recommendations on treatments that work well can be challenging, so CureTogether asked women who experience PMS to rate the effectiveness of 29 different patient-reported treatments.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
Most Effective Rated Treatments for PMS 
1. Balancing hormones 
2. Heat 
3. Ibuprofen 
4. Midol 
5. Massage 
6. Aleve 
7. Cannabis 
8. Reduce sugar 
9. Adequate sleep 
10. Dark chocolate
</div>
Where did this data come from? This is the result of a four-year CureTogether study on <a href="http://curetogether.com/pms/symptoms/">PMS</a>, in which 1,179 women shared information about their symptoms and what treatments worked best for them. We’d like to thank those who participated. And just as they shared their experience with treatments, we’re freely and openly sharing the results of the PMS study.
This is part of a regular series of CureTogether <a href="http://curetogether.com/blog/category/research-findings/">research findings</a>. CureTogether’s research findings are different than <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/factoids/">those made by 23andMe</a>, which look at genetic associations with illness, traits and drug response. But as we continue our work with the CureTogether community, 23andMe hopes to incorporate more of this kind of self-reported information into our own research. CureTogether present its findings just as they are – patient-reported data – to stimulate discussion and generate new insights for further research.
Please tweet, blog, or pass this along to anyone who can benefit or is interested in PMS. Thank you!

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