Hereditary Effects of Parental Lifestyle on the Health of Offspring

This volume addresses the impact of grand-parental and parental lifestyle on the health in the lives of their children and grand-children. It is important to note that eating habits, smoking or drinking, or using dietary supplements by grand-parents and parents during pregnancy and lactation, can have an effect on their offspring. As a consequence, their children are 'programmed' to become more susceptible to diseases such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, even if the children themselves adopt a healthy lifestyle. This 'program' is carried over to several generations, implying that the descendants of those with unhealthy lifestyles will suffer from those life choices. There is growing evidence that the obesity and diabetes 'epidemic' that both the developed and developing worlds are experiencing at present, is largely due to this 'programming' effect.