You are what your grandmother ate

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New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10518

A mother’s diet can change the behaviour of a specific gene for at

least two subsequent generations, a new study demonstrates for the first

time.

Feeding mice an enriched diet during pregnancy silenced a gene for

light fur in their pups.

And even though these pups ate a standard, un-enriched diet,

the gene remained less active in their subsequent offspring.

The findings could help explain the curious results from recent studies of

human populations – including one showing that the grandchildren of

well-fed Swedes had a greater risk of diabetes.