Changing your lifestyle may have dramatic results at the genetic level, U.S. researchers report in the Monday’s edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Dean Ornish, head of the Preventive Medicine research Institute in Sausalito, California and colleagues tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who refused conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation or hormonal therapy.

During the follow-up period, which lasted 3 months, the participants dropped their old lifestyle for a new one based on a healthy diet (including more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes and soy products), moderate exercise and an hour of daily stress management methods such as meditation.

Besides losing weight, lowering their blood pressure and other health improvements, the participants also showed significant benefic changes at the genetic levels. More exactly, biopsies of prostate tissue showed that they had changes in activity in about 500 genes: 48 disease-preventing genes were turned on, while 453 genes promoting diseases such as breast and prostate cancers were turned off.

According to the findings, the activity of genes involved in prostate cancer and breast cancer shut down. Dr. Ornish, a sustainer of lifestyle changes to improve health, said the study results “are no limited to men with prostate cancer,” Reuters reports.

This study is the first of its kind, but Dr. Ornish is hoping its results will boost the number of studies on genes to see whether genetic changes after three months translate into better long-term outcomes.