Many people believe that a daughter will grow to become very much like her mother, in terms of personality, personal preference, and physicality. It seems that there might be something to this little piece of folk wisdom. Researchers in London have been studying to find out how much of the similarities between mother and daughter are due to genetics. It turns out that genetics play a big part.
Recently, researchers from the United States, China, and Austria found a genetic mutation that can be passed down from a mother to her offspring through mitochondrial DNA. This particular genetic mutation contributes to high blood pressure. In this case, the mutation can be passed to both the daughters, as well as the sons, of the mother who has the mutation.
Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research at the University of London have found that mothers and their daughters are very much alike due to genetics. They found that there is a 57% likelihood that a girl would begin menstruating when she reaches the age that her mother was when she first started menstruating. In other words, as an example, if a girl’s mother got her first period three months after her twelfth birthday, then her daughter is very likely to start her period sometime between when she turns twelve years of age, and when she is twelve years and six months of age.
Researchers also found that there is a 70% to 80% risk that a daughter will inherit migraine headaches from her mother. They found a flawed gene, called tresk, that can cause migraines. Women can also inherit a mutated copy of the BRCA1 or BRAC2 gene from their mothers. The mutated version of this gene increases a person’s chance of developing breast cancer.
Did you know that muscle tone is also something women inherit from their mothers? The study said that the ease at which a person develops muscle tone, and the ease a person has of improving her overall level of fitness is highly inherited. Genetics influence up to 50% of how much muscle you will inherit from your mother. If your mother passed a mutated version of the FTO gene to you, a gene which influences obesity, then you have a 30% chance of becoming obese. If you inherited two copies of the mutated version of the FTO gene, then your risk of becoming obese jumps to 70%.
If you don’t happen to like the genetic hand that your mother dealt you, there are some things you can do. Make sure that you exercise, and that you are eating healthy food. This is one way to prevent obesity, and to increase your fitness. If your mother had migraine headaches, you may want to avoid the foods that are know to trigger migraines.
Image by dr_tr on Flickr