Study Says Exercise Can Alter Your DNA
NEW YORK (CBS NEWS) - Exercise doesn't only change your body's appearance, it can change your core -- right down to your DNA. A new study in the March issue of Cell Metabolism shows that that when people exercise for something as little as a 20 minute workout, it can alter their DNA almost immediately.
While the main genetic code isn't changed -- which means you won't go from a blonde to a brunette -- the DNA molecules within your muscles are structurally changed at specific locations. The research concluded that the changes, known as so-called "epigenetic modifications," seem to be the early precursor to the genetic reprogramming of muscle for strength, structure and the metabolic benefits of exercise.
"Our muscles are really plastic," says Juleen Zierath of Karolinska Institutet in Sweden said in a written statement. "We often say, 'You are what you eat.' Well, muscle adapts to what you do. If you don't use it, you lose it, and this is one of the mechanisms that allows that to happen."
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