Are you Hufflepuff or Gryffindor? Erudite or Dauntless? Or maybe you know your Myers-Briggs Type to be ESTP? Or how about plain old astrology? Are you a Capricorn?
Belonging to a discreet category can be reassuring to many people. We鈥檙e told we have these traits but not those traits, and we get a cool label we can use to recognize other members of our in-group. It provides clarity and security. But while I have seen genes that cause cancer, I had never seen Cancer in genes鈥 until I read Ben Lynch鈥檚 book, Dirty Genes.
Lynch is a naturopath whose thesis is that seven genes have been shown to 鈥渉ave the most far-reaching effects on your body.鈥 If their function is impaired, you get disease. He doesn鈥檛 even need to get you lab-tested to know which of these seven genes is dirty; based on your symptoms, he just knows. He will give you a label (like 鈥渟low COMT鈥) and will recommend lifestyle changes and supplements to 鈥渃lean鈥 that gene. As with so much modern pseudoscience, there鈥檚 a seed of truth that gets oversimplified. Let鈥檚 walk through his soap-based plan, from making a laundry list of what鈥檚 dirty, to scrubbing the bad stuff away, to spot cleaning the leftover dirt.
Are my genes cheating on me?
There are quizzes you can take in his book that are not miles away from 鈥淚s my boyfriend secretly cheating on me?鈥, i.e. superficial tests engineered to give everyone the same answer. For example, let鈥檚 look at the quiz Lynch provides to determine if your MTHFR gene is 鈥渄irty鈥:
- I suffer from headaches (that鈥檚 virtually everyone for the occasional headache)
- I sweat easily and profusely when exercising (most people can identify with this, I鈥檓 sure)
- I take supplements of folic acid and/or eat foods enriched with folic acid (that鈥檚 most Canadians who consume carbs, as folic acid is added to white flour, enriched pasta, and cornmeal products)
- I struggle with depression (that鈥檚 almost in their lifetime)
- I have cold hands and feet (common enough)
If you answered 鈥測es鈥 to at least one of these statements, your MTHFR gene requires some attention, according to Lynch. And that鈥檚 just one of seven genes he quizzes you on. For GST/GPX, if you merely breathe air and drink water, you will find yourself in need of a 鈥渟oak and scrub鈥, so you鈥檙e not getting out of these quizzes without being directed to invest in his therapeutic philosophy.
This is a hallmark of pseudoscience: the creation of a simple boogeyman. For acupuncturists, it鈥檚 the impaired flow of so-called rivers of energy within the body. For vitalistic chiropractors, it鈥檚 a type of misalignment in your spine that radiologists can鈥檛 even see. For Lynch, it鈥檚 the impaired function of these seven genes. Surprisingly enough, the genes he highlights in his book鈥MTHFR, COMT, DAO, MAOA, GST/GPX, NOS3, and PEMT鈥攁re all real. Believe me: when it comes to alternative medicine, this is rather unusual.
But do genes get dirty? Lynch uses the term as a simplistic analogy. What he means is that genes can malfunction. Genes are active stretches of DNA that contain the instructions to make proteins, which are tiny effectors in our body. If genes contain mistakes (referred to as 鈥渄isease-causing variants鈥), the proteins they will produce will be too short, or missing a bit, or unable to adopt the right shape to perform their function like a wrench painted by Dal铆. This much is true.
It is also true, as Lynch explains in his book, that epigenetic modifications can also negatively impact our genes. 鈥淓pigenetic鈥 means 鈥渙n top of the gene鈥: you can imagine a series of orange roadwork cones being laid on top of a gene to tell the crew not to bother with this gene for the time being. These epigenetic marks come and go because of diet, stress, exercise鈥 basically, they鈥檙e a product of living
The real problem is that Lynch stops at this kernel of truth and believes he鈥檚 figured it all out. Long lists appearing throughout his book inform us that 鈥渄irt鈥 on or within these seven all-important genes he鈥檚 chosen are associated with everything from Alzheimer鈥檚 disease to vascular dementia. In truth, we have over 20,000 genes, and while some are more central in their function than others, trying to explain every bit of anxiety, every lack of motivation, and every headache with a short list of seven likely culprits is simply misguided.
Still, Lynch provides you with profiles for each of his genetic Zodiac signs, descriptions that wouldn鈥檛 be out of place in the astrology section of a newspaper: 鈥淪ome days you鈥檙e blue and depressed, while other days you鈥檙e anxious. On good days, your focus is great and you get stuff done. On bad days, you have performance anxiety.鈥 If we buy into these vague, all-encompassing statements which are true for everyone, we can read on to learn what our personalized intervention is going to be.
A mixed bag of laundry
Once you have been assigned your very own genetic Zodiac sign (maybe you鈥檙e a fast COMT or maybe Saturn is in your DAO), you are invited to move on to the 鈥渟oak and scrub鈥 phase, where broad lifestyle changes are supposed to 鈥渃lean up鈥 your 鈥渄irty鈥 gene(s). On the positive side, he advises against feeling guilty for occasionally overeating, a welcome break from the usual victim blaming we typically see in the diet sphere; he recommends planning and tracking meals, which can be helpful for weight management; he admits that fruit juice is really no better for your health than soda; and he has some good advice regarding stress reduction and sleep. None of these recommendations, it bears mentioning, requires any knowledge of your genetics. Getting high-quality sleep, eating better, and managing our stress levels are universal instructions for a healthy life.
On the evidence-free side, however, Lynch recommends eating organic (even though there is no good evidence that organic food is healthier for human health); taking supplements like adaptogens and electrolytes; avoiding pesticides and even scented products (because apparently 鈥渋f it smells, it makes your genes dirty鈥). And there are questionable recommendations as well. He writes that 鈥渢here鈥檚 no 鈥榤ostly鈥 gluten-free鈥, that 鈥測ou鈥檙e either 100 percent gluten-free or you aren鈥檛鈥濃 which is true, but it鈥檚 unclear if he is suggesting we should all eat gluten-free food. He also advocates for a daily 12-16-hour fast, though the evidence on fasting is still emerging.
If you manage to turn your life around and make all of these changes but your symptoms persist, Lynch will ask you to 鈥渟pot-clean鈥 your genes. Get your credit card ready.
A leopard can鈥檛 change its spots
If Lynch told you you had a dirty DAO gene and his initial regimen didn鈥檛 work, you will be told you have C. difficile, or the bacterium that causes stomach ulcers, or some gut-related diagnosis that is not real, like leaky gut syndrome. Lynch will recommend yeast supplements, and probiotics, and L-glutamine powder, and ox bile, and PQQ. If these 鈥減rescriptions鈥 don鈥檛 cut it, he suggests copper, histamine blockers, vitamin C, fish oil, 鈥渃ell membrane supporters鈥, and buffering agents like sodium bicarbonate. Of course, each genetic Zodiac sign gets its own long list of pricey supplements, many of which are sold by the author鈥檚 own company, Seeking Health.
Ben Lynch refers to himself as 鈥渁n expert in environmental medicine鈥. His book cover boldly displays the letters 鈥淒r.鈥 before his name. He is not a medical doctor. He does not have a Ph.D. in a legitimate field. He is a man who visited India and who claims to have been cured of vomiting and diarrhea by traditional Indian practices, which led him to get a degree in naturopathy. He is anti-statin, anti-folic acid for pregnant women, and his website reveals him to be. He calls himself a 鈥渘aturopathic physician, a science-based practitioner鈥, but naturopathy is not based in science. At the core of naturopathy lie the complementary yin and yang of toxicophobia and supplementophilia, in perfect harmony, one feeding the other like a snake eating its own tail. The world around us is a toxic wasteland and the key to our survival is to gorge ourselves on 鈥渘atural鈥 pills. Every naturopath with a book to sell believes in this core essence and builds their own incarnation around it.
Lynch believes in this essence, but his own avatar, his own version of this belief system, is genetics. It鈥檚 certainly closer to science, but it is a gross oversimplification of a fascinating field.
Human biology is complex. If anyone sells you their take on it and it sounds like Mars is in Scorpio, I would advise you to go talk to a real doctor instead.
Take-home message:
-听Ben Lynch is a naturopath who wrote a book, Dirty Genes, in which he claims that seven genes can either be born dirty or get dirty, and that these dirty genes cause all sorts of illnesses
- Lynch takes basic concepts in genetics but oversimplifies them in an attempt to get you to buy a wide range of supplements
For those who want to delve deeper into 鈥淲hy calling a gene dirty is problematic", click here
Lynch uses the expression 鈥渄irty gene鈥 in his book to mean a gene that contains a problematic mutation within its sequence or a bad epigenetic modification on top of it. While I understand his shorthand, that word, 鈥渄irty鈥, and its opposite, 鈥渃lean鈥, in the context of health and nutrition are themselves problematic. They hark back to the religious concept of purity, which is bothersome for at least two reasons. First, it divides the world up into good and evil, black and white, clean fifteens and dirty dozens. Angel cake and deviled eggs. The reality is that the dose makes the poison. Second, it puts the onus on health fully on the individual, who must cleanse themselves of temptation and achieve some sort of culinary apotheosis. It fails to take into account that eating the occasional 鈥渂ad鈥 food that makes us feel good is OK; that poorer people often cannot afford to buy healthier food; that parents working two jobs to make ends meet often don鈥檛 have the time to replace takeout food by home cooking. Lynch鈥檚 very framework of 鈥渄irty versus clean鈥 is not only an oversimplification of the science, but it鈥檚 also a subconscious cudgel readers of his book can use to punish themselves.
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