Spirituality and ancestral wisdom has always told us that our ancestors were important and that it was necessary for us to honour them and not forget them and what happened to them. Science is as usual catching up and showing us some reasons why its important to know what happened to our ancestors and how things that happened in their lifetime can influence ours even if we are generations apart.
Yet again, colonial leaders and occupiers are using starvation and forced famine as a tool against civilians in multiple countries. Our greed, our blindsightedness, and our will for revenge, thinking only we as the oppressors have the right to survive. The current powers that be are so enraged and soaked in blood that they are unable to stop and see the humanity before them, they are unable to see the disasterous consequences of their actions for the immediate generation (whom they obviously do not care about) but also for future generations. The trauma of starvation and genocide results in more traumatised people in the world for generations to come. Will we never learn?
Various animal and human experiments have recently proved through the new science of epigenetics that famine endured by our ancestors, generations before we were even alive, can have massive transgenerational impacts on future generations with significant effects on health, disease risk, changes to RNA, and overall longevity.
The quotes below are from different studies in different parts of the world. Firstly, South Asia (Bengal) where during the 18th and 19th century under British rule they survived at least 31 famines, and now they have 3-5x more insisdence of diabetes than white folk who weren’t exposed to as many serious induced famines. Secondly, a remote isolated area of Sweden, where the famine was a result of failed harvests and showed a suprising benefit to grandsons. An interesting comparative study from Swedish Uppsala research noted a difference in health outcomes based on gender. In particular, it was interesting that in the Uppsala study it showed that women’s health was affected by their paternal grandmothers! So it just goes to show that our grandmother lines on both sides have a huge influence on us. Forth, the Chinese faminine in 1959 was regarded as one of the deadliest man-made disasters. The final research was inspired by the Dutch famine during the second world war, looked at ringworms and their effects on RNA. This final study was carried out by Israeli researchers.
The depressing fact is that this acquired inheritance for any future generations born from those who are miraculously able to survive the horrors in famine-striken Palestine and Sudan are destined for health problems. The effects of famine are transgenerational, and so they will have an impact for decades to come. But we as humans never think this far ahead. And if this is the goal, we are truly in sadisic territory.
There can be no peace in the world if we keep repeating the same atrocities.
“Dr Syed explains that South Asians, having endured numerous famines, have inherited “starvation-adapted” traits. These traits are characterised by increased fat storage. As a result, the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity is heightened in their descendants. This tendency towards fat storage is believed to be closely tied to epigenetic factors, which play a crucial role in how these traits are passed down through generations.” (1)
“Among the 1905 birth cohort, those who were grandsons of Överkalix boys who had experienced a “feast” season when they were just pre-puberty—a time when sperm cells are maturing—died on average six years earlier than the grandsons of Överkalix boys who had been exposed to a famine season during the same pre-puberty window, and often of diabetes. When a statistical model controlled for socioeconomic factors, the difference in lifespan became 32 years, all dependent simply on whether a boy’s grandfather had experienced one single season of starvation or gluttony just before puberty.” (2)
“These results were surprising considering that in clear contrast, maternal malnutrition during mid-childhood was linked to increased granddaughters’ cardiovascular mortality. The Uppsala birth cohort multigeneration study (UBCos Multigen), based on much larger Swedish population data set than the Överkalix cohort, confirmed that paternal grandfather’s food access in pre-puberty predicts grandsons’, but not granddaughters all-cause and cancer mortality…Hence, in the second-offspring generation, it appears that the mortality rate of men was linked exclusively to their paternal grandfather’s food supply during the prepubertal slow growth period, whereas the mortality rate of women was associated instead to the food supply of their paternal grandmothers, suggesting a sex-specific transgenerational response to starvation during mid-childhood, operating through a paternal line. Evidence from human famines, as well as animal studies indicates that nutrient starvation affect the health and lifespan of the famished individuals as well as their progeny. However, these studies also indicate that these effects depend on (1) the sex of both the individuals exposed to nutrient deprivations as well as the sex of the offspring and (2) the time of hunger exposure, prenatal (in utero) versus postnatal exposure to nutrient deprivations.” (3)
“Evidence suggests that the nutritional status during fetal development, reflection of the maternal diet during pregnancy, leads to health outcomes not only on a person as an adult but also on their offspring” (3)
“A famine that afflicted China between 1959 and 1961 is associated with an increased hyperglycemia risk not only among people who were born then, but also among the children they had a generation later….Some of the studied offspring were born to two, one or no parents who had been famine-exposed.” (4)
“A new study, involving roundworms, shows that starvation induces specific changes in so-called small RNAs and that these changes are inherited through at least three consecutive generations, apparently without any DNA involvement…..In other words, something that happened to one generation, whether famine or some other traumatic event, may be relevant to the health of its descendants for generations.” (5)
References
(1) https://www.scientianews.org/articles/genetics/why-south-asian-genes-remember-famine
(2) https://gizmodo.com/how-an-1836-famine-altered-the-genes-of-children-born-d-1200001177
(3) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41418-023-01159-4
Rox Madeira 
Very interesting. Thank you sharing this email. I had no idea, as I’m sure a lot of people did also, that such a link existed.
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Thank you Rox for writing this important piece Kerry x
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