It was once thought that our health and well-being was predetermined by the DNA we inherited from our parents and ancestors. The new field of Epigenetics now defines our health in both nature and nurture.
Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code but still get passed down to at least one successive generation.
These patterns of gene expression are governed by the cellular material — the epigenome — that sits on top of the genome, just outside it. It is these epigenetic “marks” that activate your genes. In this way environmental factors like diet, stress and prenatal nutrition can make an imprint on genes that is passed from one generation to the next, affecting both the current and future generations — meaning how well we are nourished both emotionally and diet-wise when we are young genetically affects both our future state of health as well as that of our future generations.
This field of science may well be able to explain ultimately why only one of two people with the same genetic disposition for getting a particular disease actually end up having that disease expressed.