Poverty Can Change Our Genes, Study Says
Researchers have discovered that poverty can affect our genetic makeup. According to a Northwestern University study just published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, there is evidence that lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with levels of DNA methylation…
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Researchers have discovered that poverty can affect our genetic makeup.
According to a Northwestern University study just published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, there is evidence that lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with levels of DNA methylation (DNAm), a mechanism that cells use to control genetic expression.
Nearly 10 percent of the genes in a person’s genome (their complete genetic blueprint) are affected by poverty.
Poverty can mean different things to different people, but previous research has shown that social inequality, defined in part by lower than average income and/or education level, predict increased risk of heart disease (America’s leading cause of death), cancer, diabetes, and infectious diseases. These factors also contribute to the physiological processes that lead to such conditions as chronic inflammation and insulin resistance.
The Northwestern study concludes that our bodies “remember” the experiences of poverty and that these experiences affect our development. Follow-up studies will focus on determining whether DNAm “can leave a lasting molecular imprint on the body, with implications for health later in life,” according to Thomas McDade, lead author of the study.
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Hristina Byrnes is the editor of 247Tempo.com, where she handles the site's assignments and editing. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, which she earned in 2012, and she specializes in translating complex health data research into engaging, accessible stories for a general audience.
When she's not poring over the latest data sets or brainstorming story ideas, you can find Hristina watching tennis, playing tennis with her son, or trying to get her daughter into tennis.
