Is Your Lifestyle Affecting Your Future Child’s DNA?
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 07.23.08
If I had a nickel for every prospective parent I know who changed their lifestyle for the better when they knew they were expecting I’d be a wealthy man indeed. But they just may be a bit late to the party. No pun intended.
And that’s because a controversial idea, called epigenetics, indicates those late nights in smoke filled rooms, that stress filled entry level job, or that apartment you rented next to that major, pollution-spewing roadway when you were young and broke may just be exacting their toll on the DNA of your child today.
Citing studies of female mice where those who were obese before and during pregnancy had heavier children, there is evidence that rather than changing the DNA itself the toll is exacted by affecting the switches that control which genes are switched on and switched off.
Who knows, perhaps someday we’ll discover exactly what price we’re paying for the things our parents did?
via: Times Online
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Minor detail - epigenetics is not a new idea. It had already entered the textbooks that were part of my undergraduate university curriculum 14 years ago. As it takes time for research ideas to get into textbooks and curricula, it has to be even older.
It takes about 12 weeks to normalize. I don't have a link to the study but a study was conducted where people ate healthy (recommended servings of fruits and veggies and all that) and exercised regularly over a period of 12 weeks. The study found that certain genes that were turned off before the 12 weeks were turned on after. So based on that, I conclude that 12 weeks of strict kid-prep is sufficient.
I'm no doctor though so don't take my conclusion seriously. It's really a personal belief based on observation. The major problem here is that who actually prepares 12 weeks in advance before they start trying to get pregnant? In most cases it's "whoops, I'm pregnant."
Of course having a healthy lifestyle means you don't have to prepare 12 weeks in advance...