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I watched an interesting documentary last light on SBS about Epigenetics. It is an important discovery as it effectively links "hereditary diseases" that were previously impossible to explain using simple genetics. Epigenetics puts a new layer on top of the conventional genes with switches that allow traits to be passed between parent to offspring. This effectively means that whatever you do to your own life will affect your family's health in future generations. The program notes that there are critical "sensitive times" at which the genes to be passed could be passed on: for women, it is when the eggs are created in the womb and for men it is just before puberty.

They experimented on mice, exposing them with environmental toxins during these sensitive times. What they found was astounding. Their offspring and their offsprings' offspring had diseases that resulted from the exposure.

Towards the conclusion of the program, the scientist who discovered a correlation in a human population in Northern Europe and famine and the resulting disease diabetes to appear in the ancestors made an interesting statement. He said that this graph showing the correlation, somewhat proving the theory is like seeing the picture of the earth for the first time. It was at that time that organisations to "save the world" popped up since the picture revealed how delicate and vulnerable our world was. The graph showing a statistical correlation basically shows us that we cannot be selfish with our lives since what we do to your bodies now have potential consequences with our children and out childrens' children.

The blurb:

Would you believe that your genes are shaped in part by your ancestors' life experiences? This documentary looks at how epigenetics, the new genetic discovery, is revealing the hidden influences upon genes that could affect every aspect of our lives.

Epigenetics adds a whole new layer to genes beyond the DNA. It proposes a control system of switches that turn genes on or off, and suggests that things people experience, like nutrition and stress, can control these switches and cause inheritable effects in humans. At the heart of this new field is a simple but contentious idea - that genes have a memory.

Featured in this documentary is Professor Wolf Reik, a scientist at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, who has carried out research with mice that shows that genes and environment are not mutually exclusive but are inextricably intertwined, one affecting the other. According to this program, epigenetics research is at the forefront of a paradigm shift in scientific thinking.

It will change the way the causes of disease are viewed, as well as the importance of lifestyles and family relationships. What people do no longer just affects themselves, but can determine the health of their children and grandchildren in decades to come.

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