Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
In an earlier post by my colleague Dr. Jennifer McPartland, she described new research that is linking certain chemical exposures to the rising epidemic of diabetes and obesity. Some of that research, mainly conducted in laboratory animals, is revealing that when a mother is exposed to such chemicals before or during pregnancy, her offspring are more likely to suffer from diabetes and obesity as they mature.
How might such a proclivity toward development of diabetes and obesity later in life be transferred from one generation to the next, from mother to child?
In a word, epigenetics. Read More