No.If both of these people had children, would the children from Version B have "healthier" genes than Version A, simply because of Version B's healthier lifestyle "conditioning" his genes over time?
Is it possible to condition your genes through a lifetime of strength training in such a way that your offspring benefit?
For example, take an individual at birth, and trace his life down two paths:
- the first, Version A: he never lifts a weight, eats an average American diet, and by 40 is overweight and suffering from whatever diseases for which he is genetically pre-disposed.
-the second path, Version B: he discovers the barbell at 15, becomes a SS early-adopter, and has the barbell in his hand for the rest of his life. At 40, he is fit, strong, low body fat and shows no signs of any diseases for which he may be genetically pre-disposed.
If both of these people had children, would the children from Version B have "healthier" genes than Version A, simply because of Version B's healthier lifestyle "conditioning" his genes over time?
No.If both of these people had children, would the children from Version B have "healthier" genes than Version A, simply because of Version B's healthier lifestyle "conditioning" his genes over time?
I was under the impression that the data on epigenetic modifications secondary to diet/exercise is pretty strong -- at least that it happens, to a lesser extent how much it matters. Example relating to T2DM: The role of diet and exercise in the transgenerational epigenetic landscape of T2DM | Nature Reviews Endocrinology
So it wouldn't be "conditioning" the genes per se, but rather altering heritable features that affect gene expression. So OP's person A might be expected to have diminished expression of mitochondrial genes, for example, secondary to heritable methylation (silencing) of an upstream regulator gene (e.g. PGC1a)
Right, there is no doubt that epigenetic changes can occur due to significant environmental changes. However, I haven't seen good data that this leads to genetic changes that are passed on that mean anything.
Any epigenetic effect would be completely overwhelmed by the difference in upbringing between active and sedentary parents. The latter is a rather large effect, whereas the former is somewhere between tiny and non-existent.
"Nuance"