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by Women planning pregnancy are often advised to take folic acid supplements to reduce the changes of having a baby with neural tube defects such as spina bifida. The United States has even introduced mandatory fortification of grains and flour (also proposed for bread) to bump up the folic acid levels in women across the board, which looks to be obtaining the desired effect.
Recently, however, Nature is reporting that folic acid in a mother's diet may have other implications for the unborn child. A vitamin supplement including folic acid has been shown to make mice pups fatter when fed to their pregnant mothers. Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas studied the effects of certain compounds in food, including folic acid and vitamin B12, that are known to add chemical constituents called methyl groups to DNA. This, in turn, affects the activity of genes: part of a phenomenon called 'epigenetics.'
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0 Nerd-Its
Be cautious of 'epigenetics'
I am very wary of the term epigenetics and the number of disparate uses to which it is put. The doctrine that genes are malleable within generations is the central tenet of Lamarckism, which has been categorically disproven for over a century.
In my opinion, 'epigenetics' is essentially the same as the politically-motivated Lysenkoism of the Soviet Union - it is very convenient for some people's political agendas if human attributes can be shown to be ameliorable in response to social experiences. I suspect that media interest in epigenetics is motivated by a desire to broadcast this point.
There remains no *mechanism* by which these so-called epigenetic effects take place. Instead, the term epigenetics is used to define "those aspects of the behaviour of genes which we do not yet understand". As such, it implies the conclusion of the heritability of acquired traits without providing any evidence for this.
The idea of this heritability is not compatible with any aspect of modern genetics; epigenetics is not so much a discipline within genetics as an attack upon its essential ideas.
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0 Nerd-Its
Want to buy a bridge? Its in Brooklyn.
As much as I enjoy going to Baylor to make new friends with spoiled little college girls, I have to wonder about their findings. After all, Boston University Medicine just "proved" that being a strict parent will make your children fat.
It seems to me that you could probably prove just about anything you wanted to with a study these days. Believe what you want, but I'm selling a bridge. Its in Brooklyn, limited time offer.
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Obesity by Brandon :: NR9 :: Show
I wonder if there is a correlation between nations that have introduced this sort of mandatory fortification and obesity? If there is, would that be a beneficial trade-off (i.e., neural tube defects for obesity)?