Epigenetics represents the combination of genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors, providing a deeper, more personalised insight into health and wellness outcomes.

Genetics

Deals with the total content of genes in a living system and is the study of heredity of genotypes. 

Epigenetics

The process in which heritable observable characteristics (phenotype) are developed due to other factors such as environmental and behavioral patterns and are not stored in the form of genes, but exist above (epi) the genes.

Key Differences

• Epigenetic modifications, unlike genetic characteristics, are dynamic

• Genotype is fixed, unchanging throughout life. A genetic investigation offers a static insight, which fails to account for external stimuli 

• Genetic predispositions hold greater relevance if the genes responsible for those predispositions are active

• Changes in the Epigenome can be seen and measured on a longitudinal basis

• Repeated epigenetic tests, promise a dynamic insight into gene expression over time, in response to environmental interactions 
  and lifestyle