Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Mother's Diet and Child's Gene Expression

It has already been shown that the diet of female animals upon conception can have obvious effects on their offspring. For example, studies have shown that a female mouse's diet can permanently effect the coat color of her offspring. It has always been suspected that their must be similar correlations between a mothers diet and the genes of her offspring in humans. Researchers with MRC International Nutrition Group have shown that a human mother's diet can have significant effects on the "silencing" of her child's genes.

There is a strong dependence on the consumption of grown foods in Gambia. There is also distinct rainy and dry seasons which have extreme effects on the growth of these foods, meaning the diets of Gambia's people changes with the seasons. Researchers sampled 167 pregnant women (84 of which conceived at peak of rainy season and 83 conceived at peak of dry season) and tested nutrient levels in their blood as well as examining the genes of the child. It was found that those mothers who conceived at the peak of the dry season consistently had children with less methyl groups (which are used for the silencing of certain genes) than those who had conceived at the peak of the rainy season. The inability of silencing certain genes can have serious repercussions such as proneness to disease. Good nutrients at the time of conception is vital for gene expression and to help avoid some diseases. This is a revolutionary breakthrough in that scientists can now continue testing and begin on helping mothers to be to create prime diets for optimal methyl group production.

Article Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140429125733.htm
Related Article: http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/mother-s-diet-has-life-long-effects-on-child-s-gene-function/81249809/

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