So having high blood sugar doesnât mean that you ate a lot of table sugar and the sugar is now in your bloodstream; it means you ate a lot of carbohydrates (from any source) and the sugar (glucose) is now in your bloodstream. Any digestible carbohydrate can raise blood sugar, although some raise it higher and faster than others.
If a mutation alters junk DNA, it doesnât do any harm because the junk isnât doing us any good to begin with. If our genome was 80 percent functionalâthe figure batted around when the ENCODE project results first came outâthen we should be extinct.
But not all DNA changes are harmful. Some mutations have no effect, and others produce new versions of proteins that may give a survival advantage to the organisms that have them. Over time, mutations supply the raw material from which new life forms evolve (see Chapter 3, Life's Genetic Tree).ut not all DNA changes are harmful. Some mutations have no effect, and others produce new versions of proteins that may give a survival advantage to the organisms that have them. Over time, mutations supply the raw material from which new life forms evolve (see Chapter 3, Life's Genetic Tree).