There are some epigenetic changes like DNA methylation that can be inherited from parents and effect gene expression in children. Things like diet, smoking, an

There are some epigenetic changes like DNA methylation that can be inherited from parents and effect gene expression in children. Things like diet, smoking, and the age of a mother almost certainly have some effect on the development of her children. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics I find the fact that your genes don't get a fresh start with your children pretty sobering. Kind of makes you want to go exercise :) Edit: had a hash tag in the wikipedia link I didnt mean to put there