New research suggests that lifestyle choices of parents can affect the health of their offspring as it causes external modification to their DNA which alters expression of their genes (termed ‘epigenetics’).
Many diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, are widely known to be inherited by the next generation. But new research shows that our lifestyle can also alter our genetic composition, which is passed on. So we must act early.
Professor Mark Hanson, University of Southampton, says, ‘Aspects of our early lives stay with us for the rest of our lives and set the control mechanisms of our body processes such as appetite and our predisposition to lay down fat or exercise. These are set early and are affected by mother’s diet, physical composition and even aspects of a father’s lifestyle.’
‘The environment during development affects gene expression and thereby the setting of physiological control systems that stay with us for the rest of our lives. They affect the way the genes we have inherited from our parents actually operate and can be influenced by aspects of mothers and fathers diet and lifestyle.’
Hanson’s team believes the choices made as early on as adolescence can impact not only an individual’s health but also their children’s lifespan.
Prof Hanson says, ‘We need a new focus on adolescent health and behaviour not only to help our young people but so that when they become parents they pass on healthier epigenetic processes to the next generation.’
The team plan to investigate how much impact a focus on adolescence and pre-conception lifestyles can have on the health of subsequent generations in terms of reducing diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even some forms of cancer. Findings which would have a global influence as non-communicable diseases continue to dominate causes of death in populations.
Notes for Editors
1. Non-communicable diseases – rates
Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and coronary heart disease are increasing in prevalence across the globe. They’re the leading cause of death in all regions of the World except Africa and result in the death of over 36 million people each year. This rise is largely due to changes in lifestyle and diets such as reduced physical activity and poor nutrition and is now commonplace throughout high, middle and low-income countries. It’s a global crisis. More than 9 million deaths from non-communicable diseases occur before the age of 60 meaning these largely preventable conditions earlier on in life are increasing premature deaths in the population. Professor Mark Hanson from the University of Southampton has been investigating the risk factors associated with these diseases with the intention to tackle them as early as possible.
2. Prof Hanson’s keynote lecture at the IUPS Congress in Birmingham (ICC): Physiological insights into the developmental origins of non-communicable disease
Tuesday 23 July, 16.30 – 17.15
3. New audio interview with Prof Hanson. Recorded in June 2013 and available to use – please contact Lucy Holmes (details below).
4. Congress of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS), July, Birmingham
IUPS 2013 is the 37th Congress of the International Union of Physiological Sciences and takes place at the ICC, Birmingham from 21 – 26 July. The congress will bring together over 4,000 physiologists from all corners of the globe to attend over 100 symposia and 30 keynote lectures. The congress has been running since 1889 and was started in an effort to promote physiology, encourage the interchange of ideas, and afford physiologists the opportunity to know one another personally. www.iups2013.org
Contacts
Author:
Professor Mark Hanson
Phone: (023) 8079 8421
Email: m.hanson@soton.ac.uk
The Physiological Society:
Lucy Holmes, Media and Communications Officer
+44 (0)20 7269 5727, pressoffice@physoc.org