Epigen™ is a word derived from the new science of Epigenetics. This field of study has proven that environmental factors, such as food, can impact genetic expression.

Simply put, how we treat and feed ourselves and our pets can not only affect health, but the health of offspring as well. This affirms the 30-year-long premise of Wysong that nutrition is a serious health matter, and not a mere opportunity for marketing, profiteering and recreation.

“Food delivers not just calories, macronutrients, micronutrients or antioxidant phytonutrients, but information. Food "speaks" to our genes, providing a snapshot of the state of affairs of the world in which we live. At the genetic level, the newscast provided by the foods we eat has a significant impact on what portions of our genome will be expressed, the phenotype we will display, how we age, and what diseases we develop.” (Integrative Medicine, Vol. 8, No. 5, 2009, page 49)

• “…the possibility, even the likelihood, that grandmaternal diets contributed to the incidence of obesity and diabetes…” Cooney, C. Germ cells carry the epigenetic benefits of grandmother’s diet. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2006.
• “…Nutritional restriction during gestation could affect epigenetic programming in the brain…evidence for a stable yet dynamic epigenome capable of regulating phenotypic plasticity through epigenetic programming.” McGowan, P., et al. Diet and the epigenetic (re)programming of phenotypic differences in behavior. Brain Research, 1237, 12-24, 2008.
• “…strong pointers to the importance of fetal adaptations invoked when the maternoplacental nutrient supply fails to match the fetal nutrient demand.” Godfrey, K. and D. Barker. Fetal nutrition and adult disease. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 71 (5), 1344S-1352S, 2000.
• “…most monozygotic twins are not identical…existence of epigenetic differences…” Fraga, M. R., et al. Epigenetic differences arise during the lifetime of monozygotic twins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2005.
• “…nutritional environment encountered during fetal life is strongly implicated as a determinant of lifelong metabolic capacity and risk of disease…prenatal protein restriction programs development of a metabolic syndrome-like phenotype that develops only with senescence…” Erhuma, A., et al. Prenatal exposure to a low-protein diet programs disordered regulation of lipid metabolism... American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism, 292, E1702-E1714, 2007.

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