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Grim news. If your biological age (the age your health suggests your body is) is older than your actual age, you could be at high risk of cancer.  The bigger the difference between the two, the greater your risk. A person’s epigenetic age is calculated based on a DNA blood test that looks for methylation markers that could be modified by a person’s environment, including environmental chemicals, obesity, exercise and diet. This test is not commercially available but is currently being studied by academic researchers, including a team at Northwestern. In DNA methylation, a cluster of molecules attaches to a gene and makes the gene more or less receptive to biochemical signals from the body. The gene itself -- your DNA code -- does not change. “This could become a new early warning sign of cancer,” says senior author Dr. Lifang Hou, who led the study, at newswise.com. “The discrepancy between the two ages appears to be a promising tool that could be used to develop an...

So we visit the dentist to have our teeth cleaned, maybe a cavity filled, sometimes even to affix a crown. But did you know one day sitting down at your dentist  could result in more than even a doctor might be able to tell you? A new study says dentists one day soon may be required to get a detailed look at how genes in a patient's body are being switched on or off. That means which genes are activated, and which are shut down.    It's called  epigenetics and researchers are now studying how it relates to oral health, newswise.com reports.  "Our genetic code, or DNA, is like an orchestra - it contains all of the elements we need to function - but the epigenetic code is essentially the conductor, telling which instruments to play or stay silent, or how to respond at any given moment," the Web site quotes study author associate professor Toby Hughes, University of Adelaide. Epigenetics has had an increasing role in biological and medical research, newsw...