All our lives we have been led to believe that diabetes, depression, cancer and a whole host of other diseases come from our genetic makeup. In the 1980’s it was thought that if we could manipulate our genetic makeup, we could help change the course of these diseases and the Human Genome Project was launched. A 13-year project of the sequencing of human chromosomes, it was essentially completed in 2003 and all individual chromosome papers were completed in 2006. Although the exact number of genes encoded by the genome is still unknown and data analysis continues, the results were surprising.
Dr. Bruce Lipton discusses the findings of the project in his book, The Biology of Belief. Geneticists were shocked when the completed project indicated that more than 80% of the predicted DNA did not exist. Based on statistics and the complexity of the human body, it was predicted that humans might have upwards of 120,000 genes. When only approximately 25,000 were discovered, it changed the belief of many scientists that genes were the way to quantify genetic complexity. This number was even more perplexing when it was discovered that at 24,000 genes, the Caenorhabditis worm only had 1,000 genes less than humans. If genes actually determine our make-up and complexity, why would a relatively simple creature like the Caenorhabditis worm only have almost the same number of genes as a human?
In his book, The Biology of Belief, Dr. Lipton concluded that our genes play a significantly smaller role than we were led to think. In fact he states, it is our lifestyle choices and interaction with the environment that plays a more critical role in determining our health and has the biggest impact on our bodies now and in our future. And now we know that our genetic makeup does not run our lives. We determine the direction of our lives with the choices we make and knowing that gives us true power.