HEALTH: Perception, Biology, Beliefs (CORRECTED COPY)

[Guest guest]

Sorry I didn't have the whole thing in the last post - here is the

complete article...

 

***********

 

Canadian Press

Sunday, November 10, 2002

 

VANCOUVER (CP) - Forget the hype surrounding the Human Genome Project

and start realizing that perceptions, thoughts and beliefs have a bigger

impact on people's health than their genes, says a cellular biologist.

 

Bruce Lipton is among a small but growing number of researchers who say

people need to take responsibility for their environment instead of

believing they are victims of their genes.

 

Lipton, a former researcher at the Stanford University School of

Medicine, now disagrees with the conventional belief that people are

born with a set of genes that control their lives.

 

Instead, he says genes adapt on an ongoing basis depending on the needs

of cells as they respond to the environment.

 

" Our perceptions turn on our genes and turn off our genes and our

perceptions can rewrite our genes, " he said.

 

Lipton is taking his brand of the so-called " new biology " on the road,

with lectures scheduled in several American cities and, starting this

month, in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Halifax.

 

Despite the recent multibillion-dollar worldwide effort to map the human

genome - our genetic code - only about five per cent of diseases have

any genetic connection, he said from Santa Cruz, Calif.

 

However, some scientists dispute that number, saying genes play a much

bigger role in determining which diseases or disorders people may inherit.

 

Dr. Michael Hayden, a world-renowned geneticist who teaches at the

University of British Columbia, said that while a positive attitude may

improve a patient's quality of life, it won't necessarily help those

with a genetic illness live any longer.

 

Hayden's sentiments are echoed in a new study from the University of

Glasgow, Scotland, where researchers found that survival rates for

cancer patients who are angry or depressed about their condition are no

different from those who adopt a positive attitude.

 

" Sixty per cent of Canadians will suffer from a disorder with a major

genetic component, " Hayden said.

 

" I'm not a genetic fundamentalist, I'm not saying genes are us but genes

play a key role in determining our response to the environment, " he said.

 

" I would say yes, what we can do to improve people's attitudes would be

great but more importantly I think we want to give people tools to take

control of their lives and do various positive steps that prevent

certain illnesses. "

 

People can protect themselves against heart disease, for example, by

improving their diet and exercising more, Hayden said.

 

" Genetics gives us a key into thinking about therapeutic approaches that

can have an impact but it's only one of the approaches that are necessary. "

 

Scientists believe that findings from the worldwide Human Genome Project

have provided them with a blueprint of life that will help them unlock

the mysteries behind what causes diseases such as cancer, diabetes and

Alzheimer's. Treatments to prevent or treat various conditions are

years away.

 

" As you change your perception, as you change your beliefs, you actually

will change the biological activation in your own biology, " Lipton said.

 

Such beliefs swing the pendulum back to the nurture side of the classic

nature-nurture debate.

 

Even when the nucleus of a cell is removed, the cell will function well

for some time, proving that genes don't control an organism's behaviour,

he said.

 

" Genes are involved but they're down in the level of control, " he said.

" Environment is at the top level of control. "

 

Dr. Craig Venter, head of Celera Genomics, the private company that

mapped the human genome along with publicly funded groups, recently said

that too much emphasis has been placed on genetic determinism and that

the environment is a big factor in health outcomes.

 

While the Human Genome Project involves billions of dollars in public

funds, drug companies will make the big profits as researchers work to

develop new treatments for diseases, Lipton said.

 

" Our vision has been so focused on the Human Genome Project that all of

our attention, by the media, was always directed that way, but

interestingly enough, scientists were finding all this new stuff that

didn't get the coverage, " he said of the new biology.

 

The term seems to be interchangeable with " the biology of belief, " put

forward by Herbert Benson, founder of Harvard University's Mind-Body

Medical Institute, who wrote the book Timeless Healing: The Power and

Biology of Belief.

 

Placebo effects in clinical trials to test the effectiveness of various

drugs or treatments are a powerful illustration of how beliefs impact people.

 

Those given sugar pills often report an improvement in their symptoms

because they believe they're getting the proper drugs for their condition.

 

Results of a recent trial in Houston, Tex. featured on the Discovery

Channel, were particularly startling.

 

They showed that people who were lightly anesthetized before they had

sham knee operations - incisions made into their knees before they were

sewn back up - fared no worse than those who had a conventional arthroscopy.

 

The real surgery involved cleaning out the joint and scraping away cartilage.

 

The findings add weight to the emerging field of psychoneuroimmunology

(PNI) or mind-body medicine and could herald a change in the way doctors

practise medicine.

 

Several hospital studies have also shown that prayer is powerful

medicine when it comes to healing.

 

***

© Copyright 2002 The Canadian Press