Kind of out there: Holocaust epigenetics

I have read that people who go through long, stressful, life-threatening periods have genetic changes in succeeding generations. The study I remember was of people in the Netherlands who endured famine in war with survivors down to skin and bones, their children were prone to obesity.

Here's a link:
www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM197608122950701

So it makes sense that the Holocaust would affect not just the survivors but their children too.
I also believe in the US that generations of slavery left it's mark as well as what white "settlers" did to native inhabitants that is not erased 500 years later.

My genes were tested and am 99.5% Northern European, no Jewish detectable (Ashke**** has a high incidence of IBD which you likely know). My primary physician in discussing my UC asked if I was irish as she is aware of high IBD incidence. Yes I'm a quarter Irish (maternal line) and physically look 100% Anglo-Irish.

The strange thing is theres no IBD in my Irish line AFAIK, I think it's from the Anglo (paternal) side.

Post Edited (imagardener2) : 11/27/2014 4:01:38 PM (GMT-7)

I've also read the theory about the prevalence of ibd in Jewish population. But I'm 100% Polish and i have colitis while my best friend is 100% Jewish and she is in perfect health. This shows that uc is far less anti-semitic than it is thought to be :)

It's not out there. Stress is perhaps the tipping point for many, many adverse health conditions out there. Although I'm too lazy to search for it now, a multitude of studies have been conducted on orphans, as well as on children of parents who endured stressful circumstances (these include food shortages, wars, genocide, etc, etc). They all show the same results: stress (and intergenerational stress) decreases lifespan, puts someone at high risk for autoimmunity and so fourth. There's a laundry list of things that stress does to the body. For more on this, I would suggest looking at Dr.Robert Sapolsky's work. He is the guy to go to for this because his life's work has been on the physiological effects of stress.

I'm really hard on stress these days because it seriously needs to be dealt with. I feel stress (coupled with poor diet) caused the gradual destruction of my gut bacteria and led to my disease. But it's not just me, as we are seeing things like obesity and diabetes skyrocketing. Over/undereating, addiction, etc are generally the consequence of stressors (internal and external) on the body.

Our corporate world and the 9 to 5 desk job work structure certainly isn't helping, but companies are making modest efforts to add in things like meditation and exercise to everyone's regimen. I can't recommend meditation enough. Going within has helped me deal with my past circumstances, though the scars will always remain.

Best.

Post Edited (Guardian7) : 11/28/2014 8:33:38 AM (GMT-7)

The increased incidence of IBD in Ashke****m is well known; I'm not talking about genetic susceptibility, rather I'm talking about Holocaust-associated epigenetics allowing stress to act as the initial IBD trigger. Please note that not all Jews are Ashke****c, and not all Ashke****c Jews were exposed to the Holocaust.

The stress didn't start with the Holocaust though so I think you'd have to be careful to try to pin it to that, there has been genocide over the centuries, in more recent times, well before the Holocaust, Ashkenazy Jews in Ukraine and surrounds were subject to pretty horrific pogroms from 1880 onwards (this was when a lot fled to and were allowed into London and settled in the East End).

It would certainly be interesting to find out if IBD was prevalent in the Shtetls pre 1900.

When I asked my GI in the late 80s in the UK how I could have got this he said "I don't know but we see two main populations with IBD currently, people of Jewish origin and people with AIDS". Things have changed since then!

Now, in the UK, people of other immigrant communities have caught up fast. I've talked on other posts about how, in the area I live in, with a large Indian community, IBD is exploding in numbers. I have half a dozen colleagues of South Asian origin, a couple have UC and the rest have a relative with it.

So I wonder a lot about how if it is about populations who were pretty closed for generations with a diet that encouraged a certain microbiome - lots of fermented food, resistant starch and glutamine, for instance being hit with a Westernised diet, loss of vitamin D, even change of water. Immigration is doubtless stressful for all but the communities developing IBD now have not been subject to genocide. I read one theory for instance about people becoming more susceptible to bipolar when they move from areas where for generations there was a low level of lithium in the water.

Anyway, it is interesting and I am sure we will find out a lot more over the years.

You say there are no GI issues in your family, are there other autoimmune diseases?