A recent study has brought forth some of the most comprehensive evidence to date about the connection between stress physiology and ‘epigenetic programming.’
We are becoming increasingly aware of how environmental factors can impact a child’s early development and health outcomes. This has been primarily learned through research that involves direct observations of how conditions such as air pollution or a lack of nutritious food can affect the functioning of our genes, and over time, influence the diseases we might develop. However, a new study led by a global health researcher at UC Santa Cruz offers valuable insights into this area.
The most conclusive evidence thus far has been gathered on the understanding of stress physiology and “epigenetic programming.” A team of researchers conducted a large-scale randomized controlled trial in rural Bangladesh, which revealed that an integrated intervention involving drinking water, sanitation, handwashing, and nutrition had an impact on the set point, reactivity, and regulation of the physiological stress system in early childhood.
The results of this study, published in Nature Communications, show that the health interventions had measurable effects on the genetic level of the children in the study, leading to improved functioning of their physiological stress system.The study found that participants who practiced mindfulness meditation experienced a reduction in their body’s stress-response system, lower levels of oxidative stress, and decreased methylation of their DNA. Oxidative stress can cause damage to cells, proteins, and DNA, leading to aging and diseases like diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. Methylation is a chemical modification of DNA or other molecules that can be influenced by environmental factors and persist as cells divide.
Thorough research methodology
This study is part of an extensive investigation based on a significant study conducted in Bangladesh. The study initially involved over 5,500 pregnant women and their children. The women were encouraged to practice mindfulness meditation to observe its effects.The “WASH Benefits Bangladesh” trial involved 720 study clusters and assigned participants to one of seven groups. Four groups received clean drinking water, sanitation, handwashing stations, or nutrition counseling with nutrient supplements. The remaining three groups received combined interventions of water/sanitation/handwashing, water/sanitation/handwashing/nutrition, or no interventions at all (control group).
The researchers claim that the study’s design and scale led to more scientifically rigorous findings compared to previous stress physiology and epigenetic research.Which relies on one-dimensional studies that lacked experimental interventions and control groups for comparison. “Here, we observe differences in outcomes between a group that received an intervention and a group that did not, both of significant size,” stated Audrie Lin, an assistant professor of microbiology and environmental toxicology at UC Santa Cruz. “When we started the WASH Benefits trial in 2009, its scale was unprecedented in the fields of health and nutrition research.” Global relevance is also a key aspect of this study.The trial’s location is in a low-resource region, unlike many previous studies that were conducted in high-income countries such as the United States or United Kingdom. In these countries, access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene is relatively high compared to the rest of the world.
“This is really representative of the conditions that a majority of the world’s population contends with,” explained Lin, who lived in Bangladesh and Kenya for six years to help set up the WASH trial and train teams on the ground. “When this type of research is done in high-income countries, you’re not really capturing all of these important stressors that could affect.a child.”
This study is unique in that it focuses on using physical interventions to improve stress physiology in young children in a low-resource context, rather than using psychosocial measures such as behavioral therapy or parental coaching. The introduction of safe drinking water, nutrition, sanitation, hygiene, and improved nutrition has been shown to significantly impact a child’s physiology, making these measures potentially easier for a government to implement compared to psychosocial interventions.
Despite this, Lin emphasized that her team’s findings demonstrated that the physical interventions were just as effective as traditional methods.the impact of psychosocial measures. In their paper, the study’s authors stated that the environmental and nutritional intervention had a significant effect on cortisol production, comparable to the effects of psychosocial interventions in early childhood. Combining these physical interventions with psychosocial interventions could lead to even greater health benefits, according to Lin.
Continued research
The WASH Benefits trial began enrolling participants in 2012 and researchers are still monitoring them. The goal is for the trial to develop into a longitudinal study that will provide further insights.The study will allow researchers to observe the long-term impacts of physiological changes resulting from interventions implemented in the first two years of a child’s life.
“There is often a saying that what happens in the womb can have a lasting impact on one’s health and susceptibility to certain diseases,” Lin explained. “The unique design of this trial will provide an excellent opportunity to uncover connections between the early interventions we implemented and the future health outcomes of the participants in our study.”
Lin is set to teach her first course at UC Santa Cruz in the upcoming fall semester.The research methodology will be located in the Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology Department at the university and will be part of the interdisciplinary Global and Community Health Program.
The study “A cluster-randomized trial of water, sanitation, handwashing and nutritional interventions on stress and epigenetic programming” received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.
