Yes! Most of us tend to think that the consequences of one’s lifestyle will affect only his/her life. It makes sense until we come to know what we don’t know!

Yes! Most of us tend to think that the consequences of one's lifestyle will affect only his/her life. It makes sense until we come to know what we don't know!

Well, what do we not know?

What you eat, where and how you live, how often you exercise — all of these environmental factors cause chemical modifications around your genes which are then carried over to all your future generations.

Yes, Epigenetics. But before we understand what epigenetics is and how does it do all that magic, we need to understand genetics first.

Genetics 101:

The human body contains approx 40 trillion cells! The function of all these cells varies depending on where they are put to work. For example, a liver cell performs a different function than the kidney and the brain cell. We function as a whole because of these cells. Cells are the fundamental working unit in our bodies. Cells receive instructions on what exactly they need to do from a molecule called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

The DNA in humans is made up of around 3 billion letters. There are four letters that repeat in a sequence — A, C, T, and G (The four fundamental nucleotide bases: Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine, and Thymine). Humans inherit these 3 billion letters from their mother and 3 billion letters from their father!

The sequence or the order of these letters determines the instruction set for the cells. Within these 3 billion letters there are approximately about 20, 000 genes. The DNA sequence when formed in specific order or pattern, forms a gene that then instructs and helps in the production of essential proteins. These proteins perform all the essential biological functions that keep us alive! Sometimes it takes just one letter in the sequence to be wrong and you might have a devastating disease. This means that the genome sequence is very very very important.

Ok, we know what is genetics now. But that's not all there is to the story.

Enter Epigenetics:

Epigenetics is a phenomenon in which modifications happen around the DNA without actually altering the sequence of it. And these modifications are heritable. So, you can transfer things that happened to you in your life span to your children by changing how certain genes are...

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