Poverty leaves its mark on DNA, researchers find

Adults who grew up in poverty show changes in the "programming" of their DNA that may be linked to health problems such as obesity and autoimmune diseases, Canadian and British researchers have found.

Researchers had previously known that DNA is "programmed" in the womb to turn certain genes up or down, and more recently have shown that some programming can continue into childhood and adulthood.

But the study published online this week in the International Journal of Epidemiology is the first to show an actual link between a person's early economic circumstances and the biochemistry of that person's DNA, said Moshe Szyf, a professor of pharmacology at McGill University, who co-authored the study with colleagues at the University of British Columbia and the UCL Institute of Child Health in London.

CBCNews

 

augie, this was a tongue-in-cheek post- right?

Sounds far fetched. :-D Yet another medical break through, darn it cure the common cold to start with.

Cheers..

 

Not really far fetched sikvic and not tongue in cheek either. I've been following epigenics for at least 5 years and it makes sense. Granted a study with only 40 people is small but the results are there. I'm sure you've heard of native Americans with 'thrifty genes' who are now experiencing an explosion of type 2 diabetes because of their consumption of the North American current diet.

Heck, epigenics was first thought of as a dead end false science not that many years ago.

 

My apologies. I did hit Wiki and some other links, seems very interesting. I get the basics of the science, although most flew over my head.

Cheers..