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Poverty "Ages" Genes of Young Children, Study Shows
The stress of growing up in a poor and unstable household affects children as young as 9 years old on a genetic level, shortening a portion of their chromosomes that scientists say is a key indicator of aging and illness, according to a study released Monday. The researchers say their findings are the first that document this type of genetic change among minority children and make a strong case for the importance of early-childhood intervention in vulnerable communities.
Researchers examined the DNA of a small group of 9-year-old African-American boys who had experienced chronic stress as a result of growing up in families with poor socioeconomic status. They found that the boys’ telomeres were shorter than those of boys the same age and ethnicity who came from advantaged families.
Telomeres are repetitive sequences of DNA found at the ends of chromosomes that function as a sort of cap to protect the genetic information when the DNA replicates. The telomeres become shorter each time DNA replicates, and studies have shown that stress accelerates that shortening, serving as a sort of genetic weathering that’s similar to aging.
The scientists were surprised to find significant associations between the shortening of the boys’ telomeres and low family income, low levels of maternal education, family instability and a harsh parenting style, compared with boys who came from higher-income and more stable and nurturing backgrounds. In addition, disadvantaged boys who had a genetic sensitivity to dopamine and serotonin — neurotransmitters connected with happiness and feeling pleasure — experienced accelerated shortening of their telomeres, pushing them farther down the road toward stress and sickness.
.....Scientists have already documented how the stress of being poor can have an intense physical effect on people, literally making them sick.
But the relationship between poverty and telomeres is a relatively new field of research.
Researchers examined the DNA of a small group of 9-year-old African-American boys who had experienced chronic stress as a result of growing up in families with poor socioeconomic status. They found that the boys’ telomeres were shorter
those who grow up in highly disadvantaged environments have shorter telomeres
Disadvantaged social environments are associated with adverse health outcomes. This has been attributed, in part, to chronic stress.
We report that exposure to disadvantaged environments is associated with reduced TL by age 9 y. We document significant associations between low income, low maternal education, unstable family structure, and harsh parenting and TL.
calstorm
They needed a study to tell you this? .....these things affect your reasoning and productivity.
Telomeres are repetitive sequences of DNA found at the ends of chromosomes that function as a sort of cap to protect the genetic information when the DNA replicates. The telomeres become shorter each time DNA replicates, and studies have shown that stress accelerates that shortening, serving as a sort of genetic weathering that’s similar to aging.
The scientists were surprised to find significant associations between the shortening of the boys’ telomeres and low family income, low levels of maternal education, family instability and a harsh parenting style, compared with boys who came from higher-income and more stable and nurturing backgrounds. In addition, disadvantaged boys who had a genetic sensitivity to dopamine and serotonin — neurotransmitters connected with happiness and feeling pleasure — experienced accelerated shortening of their telomeres, pushing them farther down the road toward stress and sickness.
Astyanax
Why is the OP assuming that poverty affects people's genes? That's not what the study found at all. It found that some people have greater genetic sensitivity to the effects of poverty than others.
Don't get cause and effect mixed up -- read the actual paper, not the Al Jazeera article!
This finding is exactly what we would expect from standard genetic theory.
Paper
To illustrate what that genetic tendency means, Mitchell turned to a common analogy made by scientists. Some people are dandelions; no matter the environment, they turn out the same and are resilient when faced with stressful circumstances.
Other people are orchids; they’re highly affected by their environment. In good circumstances, they flourish, but, as Mitchell explains, “If anything seems to go wrong, they just crumble.”
Those people, the orchids, Mitchell said, are the ones who have the genetic marker for sensitivity to dopamine and serotonin. “It amplifies whatever signal they’re getting from the environment,” he told Al Jazeera. “If it’s a good environment, then it’s great, but if you’re constantly in a disadvantaged environment, then you have the worst result.”
In terms of evolution and survival of the fittest, having that biomarker isn’t such a good thing when a person is living in a stressful environment. “In general, you’d want people to be insensitive to all sorts of environments,” Mitchell explains, so they can adapt and survive in any circumstances.
However, he also points out that the genetic sensitivity — as well as his team’s findings — suggests an early intervention in the lives of poor children can have a profound effect.
“Those kids can also benefit the most from any intervention,” he said, adding that the results are “continued support for the idea that we need to have early interventions in early childhood that help alleviate the effects of these kinds of negative environments. And some of those kids will benefit much more than we could realize.”
In fact, Mitchell added, because those kids are so affected by their environments, “it may be the kids that have the worst outcomes that benefit the most from any intervention.”
Disadvantaged social environments are associated with adverse health outcomes. This has been attributed, in part, to chronic stress. Telomere length (TL) has been used as a biomarker of chronic stress: TL is shorter in adults in a variety of contexts, including disadvantaged social standing and depression. We use data from 40, 9-y-old boys participating in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to extend this observation to African American children. We report that exposure to disadvantaged environments is associated with reduced TL by age 9 y. We document significant associations between low income, low maternal education, unstable family structure, and harsh parenting and TL. These effects were moderated by genetic variants in serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways. Consistent with the differential susceptibility hypothesis, subjects with the highest genetic sensitivity scores had the shortest TL when exposed to disadvantaged social environments and the longest TL when exposed to advantaged environments.
I wounder how they figured this out?
Please pardon my ignorance on all things science, but does this mean that they could pass this "shortening" on to their children?
What about the idea that it could alter their brain chemistry and possibly structure?
candlestick
I think this thread should move to science and technology forum.
soficrow
reply to post by marbles87
I wounder how they figured this out?
They took flippin cell samples, stuck them under a microscope and measured the bloody telomeres.
Amazing, isn't it? They didn't even need super high tech.
Anyway, I have no doubt we're looking at epigenetic control of gene expression
She had a round pale face, the usual exhausted face of the slum girl who is twenty-five and looks forty, thanks to miscarriages and drudgery.
The ideas that poverty "could alter their brain chemistry and possibly structure" is outside the parameters of this study - but have been done I recall.
Why don't you search the topic and start a thread on it?