The 'memory' of starvation is in your genes

During the winter of 1944, the Nazis blocked food supplies to the western Netherlands, creating a period of widespread famine and devastation. The impact of starvation on expectant mothers produced one of the first known epigenetic "experiments"—changes resulting from external rather than genetic influences—which suggested that the body's physiological responses to hardship could be inherited. The underlying mechanism, however, remained a mystery.

Read the whole article on Physorg

More from Physorg