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Dr. Dean Ornish: Your genes are not your fate - TED watch!

ted.com — Dean Ornish shares new research that shows how adopting healthy lifestyle habits can affect a person at a genetic level. For instance, he says, when you live healthier, eat better, exercise, and love more, your brain cells actually increase.

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  • jaybol, on 07/01/2008, -0/+21great find here....i love the TED conferences/videos
  • freyaXgefn, on 07/01/2008, -2/+6this guy is awesome ^-^ thanks for the digg =)
  • cowman80i9, on 07/01/2008, -2/+12Naomi Hunter said it first back in '98
    • bewareofmoose, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2We're also not tools of the government or anyone else.
  • kubedawg, on 07/01/2008, -7/+2TAKE A DRINK OF WATER! No really, it sounds like he's really parched. Good video though.
  • jerryterhorst, on 07/01/2008, -0/+31Someone should run these on television. Imagine the difference in society if people watched this instead of American Idol every week.
    • dullnation, on 07/01/2008, -5/+5Yeah, everyone would probably stop watching TV.
    • IllBeBack, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1If you are a TiVo owner and have the Desktop Plus application, you can watch the TED talks on TV. You can also download past talks.
    • bipolarruledout, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2That might require people to broaden their world view. The cognitive dissonance could be fatal.

      All kidding aside we have a disdain intellectualism in this country. Education is something you "get through" and then your done with it. If not the you're considered out of touch or elitist. People like things wraped up in a neat little package and thats just not how the world works. A lot of information has a shelf life and it's starting to stink up the place.
    • sooch, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0speaking of education... need I even start on your comment?
    • flashback99, on 07/02/2008, -0/+2Right wing nuts would slam it as liberal propoganda. Just look at what they said about Pixar's WALL-E

      http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/01/right-wing-hat ...
    • MariettaMama, on 07/02/2008, -0/+0Of course propaganda or not, people watch Bill Moyer's Healing and the Mind and that hasnt made our Healthcare system any better yet. The good news is though, every little bit helps. One doctor now means three doctors later, means one hundred a few years from now.
  • aserer511, on 07/01/2008, -3/+5Cocaine is a helluva drug
  • JackGrinnan, on 07/01/2008, -2/+14"what were we just talking about?"
    Awesome.
  • leerayIG88, on 07/01/2008, -8/+1I like my jeans. I don't care what people say about my Jeans.
  • TheMachine1, on 07/01/2008, -6/+1He said weed is good for brain cell growth. Since its also very effective at causing working memory impairment whats the point? A Big Dumb Brain?

    According to doctor Amen a researcher that does brain scans on people with neurological disorders and substance abuse. He mentions moderate alcohol use is
    like 2 drinks a week.

    • TheMachine1, on 07/01/2008, -1/+1The doctor was basing his conclusion on an old 1995 study.

      http://www.newsweek.com/id/40403

      "Drugs such as nicotine, opiates and cocaine decrease neurogenesis, whereas a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 1995 showed that cannabinoids (found in marijuana) increase it, at least in rats"

      This new study (2006) cast doubt on it.

      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16930565

      "Whether marijuana or THC affects neurogenesis remains to be explored."

      I have a hypothesis that CBD in pot explains most it medical benefits and its possible it could be useful for neurogenesis without bad side effects. And conversely THC explains most the negative effects of pot.



      • benkraj, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3That's the wrong study, he sites a 2005 study ( this one http://www.jci.org/115/11/3104?FIRSTINDEX=0&HITS=1 ... ), you all may not have access to it as I'm at a university---but the abstract is this:

        The hippocampal dentate gyrus in the adult mammalian brain contains neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs) capable of generating new neurons, i.e., neurogenesis. Most drugs of abuse examined to date decrease adult hippocampal neurogenesis, but the effects of cannabis (marijuana or cannabinoids) on hippocampal neurogenesis remain unknown. This study aimed at investigating the potential regulatory capacity of the potent synthetic cannabinoid HU210 on hippocampal neurogenesis and its possible correlation with behavioral change. We show that both embryonic and adult rat hippocampal NS/PCs are immunoreactive for CB1 cannabinoid receptors, indicating that cannabinoids could act on CB1 receptors to regulate neurogenesis. This hypothesis is supported by further findings that HU210 promotes proliferation, but not differentiation, of cultured embryonic hippocampal NS/PCs likely via a sequential activation of CB1 receptors, Gi/o proteins, and ERK signaling. Chronic, but not acute, HU210 treatment promoted neurogenesis in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of adult rats and exerted anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects. X-irradiation of the hippocampus blocked both the neurogenic and behavioral effects of chronic HU210 treatment, suggesting that chronic HU210 treatment produces anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects likely via promotion of hippocampal neurogenesis.
      • TheMachine1, on 07/02/2008, -0/+2CBD is anxiolytic and THC is anxiogenic. The observation of the cannabinoid HU210 being anxiolytic is consitant with it being more CBD like.

  • JanusTheDoorman, on 07/01/2008, -0/+18Why are we constantly surprised that taking care of our bodies is actually good for them?
  • WatchDoit, on 07/01/2008, -0/+9I'm glad that doctors are now finding that our genes do not determine our fate. It's sad to see people who are overweight accepting their situation because it's in their genes. Improving our lifestyle and reducing our stress levels can help us prevent many diseases. Great Find!
  • philovivero, on 07/01/2008, -1/+6Wow.

    There are some interesting facts that come out of this talk. Moderate alcohol consumption and marijuana consumption should increase brain cell growth. Additionally, smoking cigarettes (and excessive alcohol consumption) will decrease brain cell growth. Smoking makes 50% of guys impotent.

    Wow.
    • PhotonCannon, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0I wonder if we will evolve to dislike smoking or become more tolerant of it. Probably both.
      • neonoodle, on 07/01/2008, -1/+1why do we have to evolve to dislike smoking? People already dislike smoking and smokers without evolutionary involvement... just the involvement of some lawyers and propagandists. Been to NY lately? Not a lot of smokers there since cigarettes are 10 bucks a pack and you can't smoke in any bar or restaurant. In Shanghai, though, smoking is permitted pretty much everywhere and there are a ton of smokers.

        It's only a matter of time before the smoking laws worldwide become even more stringent than the ones in NY; and you're only allowed to smoke in designated areas and cigarettes are 20 bucks a pack. At that point, smoking will become what it originally was, a once in awhile experience used for meditation or pleasure - not a pack a day addiction as the tobacco companies would like it to be.
      • IllBeBack, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4***** smokers.
    • bipolarruledout, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0Hate to break it to you but none of this is news.
  • witchaven, on 07/01/2008, -1/+8The human body will do amazing things if you treat it right.
  • Prototek, on 07/01/2008, -2/+1But your genes are your fate, it just depends on which ones your body is expressing (turning on) and which ones they aren't. Generally speaking, you can't create new genes but you can turn on the beneficial ones your DNA possesses and turn off the deleterious ones.
  • androothebear, on 07/01/2008, -1/+10dugg for cannabanoids actually increasing brain function 8-)
  • wildingb, on 07/01/2008, -4/+2I am really not sure about Dean Ornish. He is a paid consultant for various food companies, including Macdonalds!

    He also appears obsessed about low-fat diets, which is strange considering humans ate high fat diets for hundreds of thousand of years until modern agriculture appeared. Personally I am more and more confused about what constitutes a 'healthy' diet with all the contradicting information being produced by nutritionists. My own feeling is food that was available to our ancestors is probably safer to eat than the processed food produced by the modern food companies for which Dean consults.
  • sevvo, on 07/01/2008, -5/+0Hmmm. . . this sounds a little too close to curing mental illness with vitamins.
  • wsuBobby, on 07/01/2008, -1/+4"What were we talking about...?"
  • bipolarruledout, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1More diggs. I don't spend much time at TED but these people are amazing. That pulled me right out of my seat when he said canabinoids. It's refreshing to hear someone who knows what they are talking about refuse to toe the line. The medical community has been slow to embrace antioxidants for any use other than nutrition. My mothers own cancer literature from her doctors stated that antioxidants are controversial and not recomended. You know what else isn't recomended? CANCER. While I am certainly not against the medical community I would like to hear more acknowledgement that most disease and health problems are lifestyle related and can be drastically reduced.
  • bipolarruledout, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Nicotine is not really the problem.... aside from it being more addictive than heroin. Nicotine may in fact have health and brain benefits in small amounts. The problem is putting burning plant mater in your lungs which creates a toxic collection of constituents that conspire to kill you and make everyone around you sick. There is also a dynamic between the drug delivery method and addiction. People don't generally get addicted to gum and patches due to the much slower delivery. Modern cigarettes have been enginered to deliver nicotine as fast as possible and have become more addictive with each new generation. Capitalism is great as long as what your are pushing is perfectly legal.
  • Kristijan12, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1He is right, but not in all cases is this true.
    My friends family has had heart disease over generations on his fathers side.
    His grand grand father had heart complications, his grand father died of heart failure, and his Father in order to avoid that run pretty healthy life. No vices, healthy food, exercising constantly yet moderate. And couple of years ago he had heart attack. He is alive today, he takes his medications on regular basis, and lives even more cautiously.
    • wildingb, on 07/02/2008, -0/+0It is the main point - what is a healthy diet? Have your father read the 'eisenhower paradox' chapter in "Good calories, Bad calories" by Gary Taubes. He might be interested.
  • zenithmbr, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3this doesn't mean we have free will.
  • fatdefacto, on 07/02/2008, -1/+0Genotype + enviromental influences = phenotype?

    Revolutionary!
  • thebusdriver, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Link doesnt work....
  • Sccatter, on 07/02/2008, -0/+2Get outside, walk around, and find someone to love. It always amazes me how simple things are.
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