Nutrition and epigenetics

Genes, or not genes? On October 7th, the Sunday Star Times published an article about how obese pregnant mothers should be targeted, because their eating habits passed down to babies, a four times higher risk of diabetes. WE are told that today, three in 100 mothers has gestations diabetes, but that in 10 years time, it will be 25 in 100. What an amazing crystal ball they have. Or perhaps they realise that their current attempts at education are useless, and that they don’t have the ability to turn it around.

Exactly how is making mothers have a GTT test in pregnancy, going to make any difference? Even now, pregnant mothers know how to eat what they want, and change their diet for two days before hand to have clean tests.

But let’s move back a bit here. HOW do they know that diet alters genes, which causes disease? One of the ways we know, is from mothers who had folic acid deficient diet, which results in babies developing neural tube defects during pregnancy. FACT. Not eating something can cause damage. So equally as clearly EATING too much of something else can also cause damage.

And supposedly, science discovered in 2006, that timid mothers make timid babies as well http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/573493 Giving mice a bowl of rice, turned off the genes which control how the body processes cholesterol http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-rest/201201/micrornas-and-you-how-food-changes-your-genes This research, by Zhang, is just the first of many which could shed light on how every food, every thought could have positive or negative implications on genes.

On the flip side of this work, is a study just out which found that