> A good example of the impact of epigenetics is obesity. Children's propensity to obesity often has a lot due to with epigenetic influences during neonatal dev

> A good example of the impact of epigenetics is obesity. Children's propensity to obesity often has a lot due to with epigenetic influences during neonatal development. For instance, if a mother is pregnant during a famine and thus doesn't eat much, the fetus' digestive system will adapt to starving conditions through epigenetic changes in chromatin that bind the relevant genes, thus developing a "thrifty metabolism" (digests food slowly). This trait then stays through generations, and when such people move to the West, their metabolisms incline them towards obesity as their body still digests food slowly thinking they were born into starving conditions. I think it'd be fair to characterise this as an early hypothesis?