Mass Hardship and Disaster Affect Unborns DNA, ImmunityHeather Callaghan The number of days an expectant mother was deprived of electricity during Quebecs Ice Storm predicts the epigenetic profile of her child, a new study finds. Scientists from the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill University think theyve cracked the code on exactly how disasters like the storm can affect the unborn. Five months after the event, researchers recruited women who had been pregnant during the disaster and assessed their degrees of hardship and distress in a study called Project Ice Storm. Thirteen years later, the researchers found that DNA within the T cells a type of immune system cell of 36 children showed distinctive patterns in DNA methylation. The researchers concluded for the first time that maternal hardship, predicted the degree of methylation of DNA in the T cells. The epigenetic signature plays a role in the way the genes express themselves. This study is also the first to show that it is the objective stress exposure (such as days without electricity) and not the degree of emotional distress in pregnant women that causes long lasting changes in the epigenome of their babies. The health impacts on these children is less clear, but changes in the family of genes related to immunity and sugar metabolism detected in these babies, now teenagers, may put them at a greater risk to develop asthma, diabetes or obesity, they conclude. While its notable that there are diagnostics to detect body impacts from disaster and hardship, it isnt anything that traditional medicine practitioners and nutritionists have missed throughout the centuries. For instance, in a study of Cherokee skulls in the aftermath of the Trail of Tears, changes in body structure could be seen as a direct result from genocide, trauma and hunger. However, there were people during that time and after who were warning of nutritional and physical degeneration as a result of those very hardships. If you read enough of these studies, youll see a distinct pattern that comes scarily close to outright blaming mothers (and fathers) for the epigenetic profile of posterity. Such as the one I refer to in: Junk Food Encoded in Childrens DNA and Beyond. I believe, in those instances, it is a twisted way to use epigenetics (impact from environmental factors, nutrition and even stress) to turn a gun on parents who arent even aware of the harmful impact of products supposedly tested and originally found safe. Maybe epigenetics is gaining too much headway in lieu of blaming inherent genetics for everything which would cause so much scrutiny toward things approved as safe in our food supply and environment. The epigenetics outlook causes people to say, Wait a second, what have I been exposed to? Why arent I getting enough nutrition? Instead of Oh, I must have bad genes. But, as the above study notes, the childrens health didnt have much to do with the stress of Mom, but the impact of the outage itself. Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work atNaturalBlaze.com and selfnewsPost.com. Like at Facebook. Recent posts byHeather Callaghan: 