From taking a sauna to drinking pinot noir, a fascinating book by a hormone doctor reveals how to... switch off your bad genes and live longer 

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When you look at gorgeous women like Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez, Julianne Moore, Gisele Bundchen and Helen Mirren, it’s easy to believe they have won the genetic lottery.

But let’s be clear — these women are in the public eye. It’s their job to look amazing, and they are extremely motivated to look good for as long as possible as they age.

Things are tougher for the rest of us as we wrestle with weight, energy and sex drive.

The female body is magnificent, but it doesn’t come with a lifetime warranty or an owner’s manual (Stock image)

I grew up idolising actresses such as Katharine Hepburn, Sigourney Weaver, Diane Keaton and Julia Roberts. They were slim and tall, but I was pudgy and short.

When I reached my 40s, my battle got harder still as I navigated the challenges of crazy work hours, perimenopause, grief, breast lumps, ageing parents and stress.

The female body is magnificent, but it doesn’t come with a lifetime warranty or an owner’s manual.

However, as a doctor — a gynaecologist and hormone specialist — I am fascinated by the role that our genes play and the power that we have to change them.

I believe it’s all about finding the genetic switches that control metabolism, weight, disease and ageing and am convinced that by turning your good genes on and your bad genes off, you can prevent ageing no matter how old you are.

You may notice ageing as stiffening joints, an emerging paunch, lingering hangovers or difficulty reading labels.

Or you may recognise it by the fact that staying in shape seems to require ten times the effort it used to.

But the good news is middle age offers you a profound opportunity to reprogramme your genes and your body.

Even if you have fewer of the good genes and more of the bad genes (as I do), you can still lose weight, improve your skin and change how your DNA controls your body and mind (as I have done).

There’s no need to test yourself to benefit from my advice — it can produce anti- ageing results without genetic testing.

You already know key ways to make life easy for your body, whatever your genetic mix: sleep a minimum six hours a night; exercise for 20 to 30 minutes four days a week; take time out for stress- busting and relaxation; keep your brain active and eat healthily.

But, with my help, if you target certain gene variants, you might just be able to give yourself a head start and super-boost your very own rejuvenation process. Whether you are 45 or 65, my advice will help you prevent signs of ageing and feel healthier and stronger than ever.

TURN OFF GENES

There’s nothing more ageing than a weight problem — yet it’s more difficult to lose excess pounds as you get older. But you can minimise how genetics affect behaviour with food and, consequently, your weight by taking a good guess at the eating genes you may have inherited.

• If you tend to overeat: you may have a gene called ANKK1/DRD2, which can lead to overeating and addictive behaviours. Outwit this by searching for pleasure in non-food items, such as a massage, hot bath, meditation or yoga, and drinking green tea (which raises dopamine levels in the brain). Keep a food journal to stay on track and refuse to let the inner addict run the show.

• If your downfall is snacking: you may have a gene variant that leads to over-snacking — once you start, it’s hard to stop. Stick to three meals a day and ban snacks in your home.

• If you never feel full: you could have the ‘Fatso’ gene (‘fat mass and obesity associated’ or FTO), which makes it hard for you to know when to stop eating. This gene is strongly associated with a higher risk for obesity and diabetes. When you have the variant, it gives you poor control of the hormone leptin, which should tell you when you’re full. It can mean you feel hungry much of the time. You can turn off this gene with exercise and a low carbohydrate, high fibre diet. Try weighing food and planning meals in advance. It removes the need to bargain with yourself or waste time wondering whether or not you’re really hungry.

• If you have a sweet tooth: you could have a gene that gives you an increased likelihood of eating more sweets and a propensity for excess weight to cling to your waist. Boosting your intake of fruit can help.

• If you suspect meat causes you to gain weight: it might be due to a gene variant called PPARy (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma). It controls how the body responds to certain types of fat and makes you more likely to lose weight if you eat more fish than meat. One study showed women who have this gene lose weight when they consume more than 50 per cent of fat from the omega-3s and omega-6s found in fish, shellfish and nuts. If you suspect this affects you, an omega-3 supplement might help.

• If you are always hungry: you might have a variant of the ‘clock gene’, which controls your body clock, or circadian rhythm. If you have a bad variant you will have high levels of the hormone ghrelin, which makes you hungry, and this can leave you highly resistant to weight loss. But by establishing firm bedtime and waking times (and sticking with them) you can protect your circadian rhythm and help regulate these hormones. You need eight hours of sleep a night to lose weight if you have the bad variant of this gene.

Unlike a fine Bordeaux, your body does not get better with age. Indeed, it is very common to find that when you hit middle age you just can’t cope with a few drinks like you once did

SAUNAS RESET DNA 

Regular sessions in a sauna give the body a shock of heat, which appears to help reset its fine-tuning mechanisms, including DNA.

A sauna activates the longevity gene FOXO3, which turns on genes for stress resilience, production of disease-fighting antioxidants, maintenance of proteins (to keep muscles strong), DNA repair (prevents mutations) and tumour killing.

So using a sauna is handy as we get older because it seems to boost exactly the genes that become less effective with age.

In addition to turning on other important genes, FOXO3 helps you make something called ‘heat-shock proteins’.

These work to ensure proteins in your body are folded like a fitted sheet, not bunched up and wrinkled. Poorly folded proteins clump together and cause damage in the form of furred-up arteries, heart failure and diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Heat-shock proteins also work to counteract ‘oxidative stress’ — the natural rusting process that happens to the body over time. Studies show when you make more FOXO3 (because you are genetically predisposed to do so or because you enjoy a regular session in the sauna), you triple your chance of living to 100. Even if you have a sauna only once every couple of months your heart will benefit.

DRINK RED WINE

Unlike a fine Bordeaux, your body does not get better with age. Indeed, it is very common to find that when you hit middle age you just can’t cope with a few drinks like you once did.

I love a glass of wine, but more than two glasses a week keeps me awake, makes me retain water weight and feel sluggish.

Drink causes poor sleep, headaches, low energy, night sweats, hot flushes and weight gain. Though age plays a part, if your ability to enjoy a few drinks has taken a dive in recent years, you may have a faulty methylation gene (called MTHFR).

It determines how chemicals are tagged in the body, or methylated, and how you detox alcohol in your system (alcohol blocks methylation).

You might find alcohol has no place in your vibrant, healthy future, but there are two ways to outfox alcohol-metabolising genes: eating more leafy green vegetables and being circumspect about the amount — and type — of alcohol you drink.

The body needs plenty of vitamin B9 to detoxify alcohol and some of us don’t have great genes for producing or metabolising B9. But the more dark, leafy greens (cabbage, spinach, kale) and other greens (lettuce, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower) you eat, the more you boost B9 naturally and so help the body cope with alcohol.

It’s a good idea to start keeping a booze diary and track your response to nights on and nights off, including which tipples don’t suit you genetically.

I suggest sticking to red wine, which studies have shown can be good for you. That’s because the grapes contain a plant compound called resveratrol, which has anti-ageing benefits (including prevention of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer). Interestingly, its effects are most impressive in people who are obese (BMI over 30).

But moderation is key — one or two glasses a week to give genes the best chance.

Three or more glasses is linked to a slightly raised risk of breast and other cancers.

Organic wine minimises exposure to chemicals, and opt for a drink with the highest concentration of resveratrol.

Pinot noir has higher resveratrol levels than other varieties across the world, except the Trentino region in Italy, where the cabernet sauvignon levels were higher still.

Wines with the most resveratrol are harvested from cooler regions. Choose organic and pick pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, Italian sangiovese, Australian shiraz or French burgundy.

And finally, think yourself young. People with an optimistic view of themselves and how they are ageing live an impressive eight years longer.

• Adapted from Younger: The Breakthrough Programme To Reset Our Genes And Reverse Ageing by Sara Gottfried (Vermilion, £14.99), to be published on March 2. © Sara Gottfried 2017. To order a copy for £11.24 (offer valid until March 6), visit mailbookshop.co.uk or call 0844 571 0640. P&P free on orders over £15.