Intergenerational Health Responses to Adverse and Enriched Environments

Abstract

Health consequences of relative or absolute poverty constitute a definitive area of study in social medicine. As demonstrated in the extreme example of the Dutch Hunger Winter from 1944 to 1945, prenatal hunger can lead to adult schizophrenia and depression. A Norwegian study showed how childhood poverty resulted in a heightened risk of myocardial infarction in adulthood. In England, a study of extended impaired prenatal nutrition indicated three different types of increased cardiovascular risk at older ages. Current animal and human studies link both adverse and enriched environmental exposures to intergenerational transmission. We do not fully understand the molecular mechanisms for it; however, studies that follow up epigenetic marks within a generation combined with exploration of gametic epigenetic inheritance may help explain the prevalence of certain conditions such as cardiovascular disease, schizophrenia, and alcoholism, which have complex etiologies. Insights from these studies will be of great public health importance.

Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance of Type 2 Diabetes

“…[86][87][88] In line with this, neonatal overnutrition in mice led to rapid weight gain and late-onset obesity, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, and insulin resistance. 106 Strikingly, some phenotypic traits developed by founder male mice were still detectable in their offspring (F1) and grandoffspring (F2) (Table 21.2 and Figure 21.5A).…”

“…Offspring of prenatally undernourished fathers were heavier and more obese than the control offspring 83,84 Överkalix Birth-historical Boys exposed to high nutrient availability during the pre-pubertal slow growth period Paternal grandfather food availability increased mortality rate from cardiovascular complications and diabetes in the male grand-offspring [85][86][87][88][89] ALSPAC Contemporary prospective…”

Understanding the epigenetic origins of congenital heart disease may lead to its control

“…(38) Some of the best-studied alterations are those that activate epigenetic marks that modify the production of proteins, such as histones. (39) In the USA, the Environmental Protection Agency has identified known teratogenic substances of which the most harmful are lead, mercury, cocaine, alcohol, tobacco, heroin, iodized radiation and dioxin. (40) Fetal development is altered by these common teratogens due to the permanent epigenetic changes in the structure and control of genes.…”

Solving obesity without addressing poverty: Fat chance

“…However, several of the physiological responses to poverty are similar irrespective of high or low body fat such as blunted patterns of diurnal cortisol secretion 17 , depression18,19 and unhappiness20,21 .People generally do not choose to live in poverty. Poverty impacts people irrespective of their fat.…”