Grandparents' health might affect future generations
By Betsy Mason Contra Costa Times Walnut Creek, Calif. (MCT) — You are not just what you eat, but what your mother and your grandmother ate as well. A study at Children's Hospital Oakland (Calif.) Research Institute found that a pregnant mouse's diet can affect the health of her grandchildren. "Things like this probably go on in humans, too," said molecular geneticist Kenneth Beckman of the institute, an author of the study. Previously, scientists thought parents passed their genes on to their offspring — and no further. But recent studies have suggested that environmental influences on those genes can also be inherited. The new study, led by Beckman and molecular geneticist David Martin of the institute, is the first to show that those environmental influences can be passed on to grandchildren. "The implications for public health are enormous," said nutritional epigeneticist Robert Waterland of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who is doing similar research.