A new study just published in Nature Medicine has confirmed your destiny is not your genes. They never were. It is your choices you make and when you make the right choices, you get a completely different outcome.
The Alzheimer’s Gene
- Individuals carrying one copy of the APOE-4 allele face a 3-4× increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s; those with two copies have up to a 12× (or in some data, 15×) risk.
- A Mediterranean diet can reduce dementia risk by about 35% in homozygous APOE-4 carriers and by approximately 5% in heterozygous carriers.
- A Green Mediterranean diet (green-MED), richer in plant polyphenols, leafy greens, and other anti-inflammatory components, is estimated to deliver twice the anti-inflammatory power of a standard Mediterranean diet.
Diet and Lifestyle can epigenetically modulate genetic risk, empowering you to influence how your genes express themselves.
The green-MED diet enriches the traditional Mediterranean approach with:
- Leafy greens vegetables (spinach, kale, collard, dandelion arugula, Romaine)
- Sulforaphane (broccoli sprouts, crucifers)
- Butyrate (from plant fiber fermentation)
- Allyl sulfides (garlic, leeks, onions)
- Quercetin (onions)
- Omega-3 fatty acids (flax seed, hemp seed, walnuts)
Trials show green-MED delivers about 2× greater anti-inflammatory and metabolic impact compared to the standard Mediterranean diet.
In-Depth Insights
APOE-4 Genetic Risk: More Than Just Fate
- One copy of the APOE-4 allele increases Alzheimer’s risk 3–4×, while two copies (homozygous) raise it to around 12× compared to non-carriers.
- Some sources suggest up to a 15-fold risk in homozygotes, depending on the population.
Diet That Reverses Risk: Mediterranean Nutrition at Work
- A 34-year study of over 5,700 participants found that homozygous APOE-4 carriers who adhered to a Mediterranean diet were 35% less likely to develop dementia — an impressive risk reduction.
- In contrast, heterozygous carriers (one APOE-4 copy) experienced more modest benefits—about a 5% reduction in risk.
Enter the Green Mediterranean Diet: Twice the Anti-Inflammatory Effect
- While the present study focused on a standard Mediterranean diet, emerging research highlights that a Green Mediterranean diet — enriched with leafy greens, herbs, and high-polyphenol plant foods — offers twice the anti-inflammatory potential.
- Although specific data on Alzheimer’s or APOE-4 carriers and the Green Mediterranean diet remain pending, its enhanced inflammation-reducing capabilities suggest even greater epigenetic and neuroprotective benefits.
Most Powerful Message
The Green Mediterranean diet can reduce the homozygous APOE-4 carriers’ risk: up to 65% less likely to develop dementia — an extremely impressive risk reduction. In contrast, heterozygous carriers (one APOE-4 copy) can experience up to a 10% reduction in risk by switching to the Green Mediterranean diet.
You’re not a prisoner of your genes. A lifestyle rooted in diet, exercise and other lifestyle modifications can profoundly shape your cognitive destiny.
Epigenetic Diet Power
Even with high genetic risk, dietary patterns like the Green Mediterranean diet can switch on protective pathways and diminish dementia risk.
Final Thoughts
Genes set the stage — but you write the script. Through targeted dietary choices like a Green Mediterranean diet and by other lifestyle choice changes you’re steering the epigenetic expressions that shape your brain and whole body health. It’s not just about biology — it’s about the mind, the habits, and the habits of mind.
Dr. Nemec’s Review
This is such an empowering study. This takes away all fear of destiny inherited by you from your family. This also takes away all fear of what your genes personally show because they can be modified at any time. All you have to do is choose — like this study — a green Mediterranean diet, and you can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, even with the worst gene combination, by 65%. And that’s just with diet. There’s so much more than diet.
To the diet, you can add exercise, hydration, oxygenation, proper sleep patterns, different types of fasting techniques, prayer/meditation, and living fully in the moment
Just imagine all the possibilities if just one of these (a diet change) can change 65%. What if each one of these categories could change even 25%! That would bring you up to 225% reduced risk. The possibilities puts the control back in your hands. It’s not about what’s been done to you, what’s been given to you or your lot in life. No, it never was about that. It’s about what you choose today, what life you choose to live. You have the choice each moment to turn on or turn off every single gene: whether it be a cancer gene, an Alzheimer’s gene, a diabetic gene, or whatever the gene is — it can be modified. It can be reversed.
This is true victory, and freedom over the bondage of fear and fate. So it does not matter what you’ve been given. It’s what you do with what you’ve been given that defines you.
Moses said to the Israelite people: you choose, you choose blessing or cursing, you choose life or death. So it’s your choice: your destiny and your life is in your hands to choose. If you choose correctly, you will be blessed with health longevity and prosperity, which is defined as living life to the full in body, mind, brain, heart, and spirit.
Since every new journey begins by taking a step in the direction of that journey, what step are you going to take today? When we say today, we mean today!
One step would be to start adding a lot of leafy greens to your diet. Another step might be to start that exercise program you’ve kept putting off to the new year and the next new year and so on. Be proactive if you want a new you. You have to start building it one brick at a time, so start laying your foundation today. And let us know how it’s going because we’re here to help you on your journey and show you what has helped so many people over the last 40 years.
Have fun building!
