The lifestyle of a pregnant woman affects not only her child, but also her grandchildren and great-grandchildren! How it works - told the expert of the talk show "Taumnitsi DNA" at STB, clinical geneticist Lyudmila Turova.
Today science is rapidly advancing, and everyone knows that the period of pregnancy and the first months of life is the most important for a person. German neuroscientist Peter Spork said: "In old age, our health is sometimes much more influenced by the diet of our mother during pregnancy than food at the current moment in life." These words, according to the expert, have a lot of meaning.
“Proper nutrition for the expectant mother and father is incredibly important! Epigenetic changes can be inherited and reproduced in 3 - 4 generations, that is, in great-grandchildren and beyond! But there may be no factor stimulating these changes, then they disappear. There is a lot of evidence for this.
For example, scientists examined elderly Dutch people who were born immediately after the war. Their mothers' gestation period coincided with the famine in the country. Scientists have found that stress and a half-starved diet of mothers negatively affected the health of future children. They were born with low birth weight and were more likely to experience heart disease, obesity and diabetes in adulthood than their fellow countrymen born a year or two later / earlier. Later, the American scientist Lambert Lume discovered that in the next generation, children born to the families of these Dutchmen also appeared born with an abnormally low weight and more often than others suffered from all age-related diseases, although their parents lived quite safely and well ate. The genetic memory of the hungry period of pregnancy in grandmothers was realized through a generation, to grandchildren, ”says the geneticist.
In addition, proper sleep is important. So, according to the expert, just a week of lack of sleep negatively affects the activity of more than 700 genes and, accordingly, passes them on to the next generations. Poor nutrition, lack of activity, negative emotions, toxins and bad habits, as well as trauma and stress trigger epigenetic changes and affect genes in unborn children. Based on this, we are already shaping the health and quality of life of future generations today.
Lyudmila Turova reminds that the best treatment is prevention: “I believe that it is better to prevent genetic changes at the stage of pregnancy planning and fetal development. Moreover, now it is possible! Do not forget that we are not only what we eat, but also what our mother ate. "Recall
- 4 reasons why kids start talking late
- Children help build a career: is it true or not?
