Ghosts in Our Genes

Recently I watched a documentary entitled, "The Ghost In Your Genes," which left me quiet worried. One of the main points in the movie is that the same DNA sequence can produce different disorders. For example, a person with obesity problem and a person with autism might have the same missing chromosomes, yet they have different types of disorders.

Further studies concluded something spectacular. Our DNA is dependent of our ancestors, such as great grandparents, grandparents, and parents. If one of them lived during poverty while young or was terribly ill, it would have affected their DNA composition, thus affecting our own health and our children's health.

What worries me about this analysis is that people may not have much control over their lives, health-wise, as previously thought. If our grandparents were alcoholics or drug users, they would have directly affected our own health, even if we never touched alcohol or drugs. And not just our health, but our children's as well! So, before we indulge in certain practices that might seem "good" for us, we should think about the possible consequences we might pass to our successors.