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Study of Holocaust survivors finds trauma passed on to children's genes
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/21/study-of-holocaust-survivors-finds-trauma-passed-on-to-childrens-genes?CMP=share_btn_fb
Study of Holocaust survivors finds trauma passed on to children's genes
New finding is clear example in humans of the theory of epigenetic inheritance: the idea that environmental factors can affect the genes of your children
The team’s work is the clearest sign yet that life experience can affect the genes of subsequent generations. Photograph:
Helen Thomson
Friday 21 August 2015
Genetic changes stemming from the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors are capable of being passed on to their children, the clearest sign yet that one person’s life experience can affect subsequent generations.
The conclusion from a research team at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital led by Rachel Yehuda stems from the genetic study of 32 Jewish men and women who had either been interned in a Nazi concentration camp, witnessed or experienced torture or who had had to hide during the second world war.
They also analysed the genes of their children, who are known to have increased likelihood of stress disorders, and compared the results with Jewish families who were living outside of Europe during the war. “The gene changes in the children could only be attributed to Holocaust exposure in the parents,” said Yehuda.
<snip>
“To our knowledge, this provides the first demonstration of transmission of pre-conception stress effects resulting in epigenetic changes in both the exposed parents and their offspring in humans,” said Yehuda, whose work was published in Biological Psychiatry.
<snip>
Study of Holocaust survivors finds trauma passed on to children's genes
New finding is clear example in humans of the theory of epigenetic inheritance: the idea that environmental factors can affect the genes of your children
The team’s work is the clearest sign yet that life experience can affect the genes of subsequent generations. Photograph:
Helen Thomson
Friday 21 August 2015
Genetic changes stemming from the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors are capable of being passed on to their children, the clearest sign yet that one person’s life experience can affect subsequent generations.
The conclusion from a research team at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital led by Rachel Yehuda stems from the genetic study of 32 Jewish men and women who had either been interned in a Nazi concentration camp, witnessed or experienced torture or who had had to hide during the second world war.
They also analysed the genes of their children, who are known to have increased likelihood of stress disorders, and compared the results with Jewish families who were living outside of Europe during the war. “The gene changes in the children could only be attributed to Holocaust exposure in the parents,” said Yehuda.
<snip>
“To our knowledge, this provides the first demonstration of transmission of pre-conception stress effects resulting in epigenetic changes in both the exposed parents and their offspring in humans,” said Yehuda, whose work was published in Biological Psychiatry.
<snip>
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
You know how they say that things like depression and addiction are genetic? Perhaps it is the trauma that is passed on and the younger generations are coping via addiction or suffering w/ the depression of PTSD? Not sure, just musing. 
