The way we live can echo far beyond how we feel day-to-day—it may even change what’s happening in our genes. A major study from the National University of Singapore has mapped how diet and exercise influence gene regulation in skeletal muscle, with a focus on East Asian populations. The findings reveal a molecular connection between lifestyle and long-term disease risk.
A Closer Look at the Study
A team of researchers in Singapore designed a 16-week structured lifestyle intervention focused on diet and supervised exercise. The participants? Overweight or obese adults of East Asian descent—a group often at higher risk of metabolic issues even at lower body mass indexes.
Out of the 265 adults recruited, 54 provided skeletal muscle biopsies both before and after the intervention. These samples became the cornerstone for understanding the relationship between lifestyle and gene behavior.
What Happened at the Genetic Level
Freepik | Singaporean researchers tested a 16-week diet and exercise program on overweight East Asian adults.
Researchers used advanced tools—like transcriptome sequencing and genetic profiling—to monitor how gene expression and splicing changed over time in response to lifestyle shifts. The study was more than just another wellness experiment. It created the first comprehensive, longitudinal genetic dataset specifically focused on East Asian individuals undergoing lifestyle changes.
The findings showed that:
1. Body weight dropped by around 10%
2. Insulin-stimulated glucose uptake improved by about 30%
3. 505 genes shifted activity, especially those involved in mitochondrial function and insulin signaling pathways
These biological improvements weren’t random. They lined up with meaningful changes in how certain genes expressed themselves based on lifestyle habits—proof that nutrition and exercise aren't just surface-level fixes.
Gene-Lifestyle Interaction
The most compelling part? The identification of hundreds of gene regulatory variants (known as eQTLs and sQTLs) that responded differently depending on lifestyle inputs. Some of these variants were unique to East Asian ancestry—making them especially valuable for building culturally and genetically tailored healthcare solutions.
Key highlights include:
1. Researchers identified that 4.2% of expression variants (eQTLs) and 7.3% of splicing variants (sQTLs) are unique to individuals of East Asian ancestry.
2. 16 genes were found to overlap with known risk markers from metabolic genome-wide association studies (GWAS), such as ANK1 and CRTC3
3. The effect of several high-risk genes weakened after the lifestyle intervention
This last point stands out. It suggests that even genetically predisposed health risks can be softened through consistent lifestyle habits. This moves the conversation beyond inherited risk—highlighting lifestyle as an actionable factor that can directly shape biological pathways.
A More Personalized Path Forward
The researchers aren't stopping here. Next steps include expanding the participant pool to include women and more diverse Asian populations. They also plan to explore different cell types within muscle tissue using high-resolution technologies like single-cell sequencing.
The long-term goal is clear: build a deeper understanding of how lifestyle behaviors interact with genetic frameworks so that future treatments for conditions like obesity and diabetes can be far more personalized.
Why This Matters
Freepik | Your lifestyle is a powerful tool that may influence gene behavior and disease risk.
Most existing genetic studies are centered on individuals of European ancestry, leaving gaps in data for other populations. By focusing on East Asians, this study begins to fill those gaps—especially around how lifestyle affects gene behavior.
For individuals, the takeaway is powerful: lifestyle is more than a tool for looking better—it could be actively influencing gene behavior that connects to disease risk. For healthcare, it suggests that one-size-fits-all strategies won’t cut it. Tailored, ancestry-aware approaches are the future.
Small Changes, Big Genetic Shifts
This study reshapes the way lifestyle is understood in relation to health. It’s not just about calories in and out. Diet and exercise send signals that echo through the body at the cellular level, even modifying how genes operate.
For anyone concerned about metabolic health, especially within East Asian communities, the message is straightforward: lifestyle habits aren’t just helpful—they could be genetically impactful. In closing, the right changes, sustained over time, might just dial down the risk coded into DNA.
