Epigenetics is all about changing the way our genes function by turning them off or making them more active.
Genes are the blueprint for building the human body. There's a copy of the whole blueprint in nearly every cell in the body, but clearly you don't need to use all of it all of the time. Bone cells will use different bits of the blueprint to nerve cells or light sensing cells in the eye.
Manel Esteller's team, at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, has shown that this control over the blueprint decays over time.
Adding small chemicals, methyl groups, to specific points of DNA is one of the main ways of turning a gene off.
Longer or healthier life?
It is possible to change a person's epigenome. Studies have already shown how a pregnant mother's diet can affect her child's risk of obesity epigenetically.
Prof Tim Spector, the author of a book on epigenetics, Identically Different, said: "There are epigenetic drugs in development, four for cancer. In terms of lifestyle, we know that exercise can switch off the main obesity genes epigenetically.
"Apart from stem cells, this is the hot area of ageing at the moment, finding ways of encouraging our genes to remain healthy is going to be a top priority in the next few years."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18400219
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