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During the Great Depression of 1931, people demanded the rights
of the unemployed in front of the U.
S.
Capitol.
The worst recession in U.
S.
history determines people's ability to grow old — even before
they are born.
Researchers have found that people born during the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939 showed signs of accelerated aging in their cells
.
At the height of the Great Depression, about 25 percent of the U.
S.
workforce was unemployed
.
The study's authors measured these changes
in the cell's epigenome.
The epigenome is a collection of chemical markers attached to DNA that determine when, where, and how much
genes are expressed in each cell.
They believe that the pattern of labeling they found may be associated with
higher chronic disease and mortality.
The study, published Nov.
18 in PNAS, adds to a series of studies that show that exposure to harsh conditions such as stress and hunger can affect human health
for decades in the earliest stages of development.
Lauren Schmitz, an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the findings highlight how social programs designed to help pregnant women can be a tool
to combat disparities in children's health.
Patrick Allard, an environmental epigeneticist at UCLA, said that while the study is far from the first to link significant historical events to epigenomic changes, the fact that such signals appear in data collected from people in their seventies and eighties is "shocking" and is sure to be textbook stuff
.
In the earliest stages of development, an embryo is a set of potentials that contain genetic instructions
that build the molecular components of the body.
Over time, however, cells add or remove chemical modifications called epigenetic tags to their DNA that shape the way
these cells and their offspring carry out instructions.
These labels are influenced by a variety of factors, including hormones, diet, and people's environment
.
The changes made during this critical period can last a lifetime
.
In 2008, researchers found that people who became pregnant during the Dutch famine at the end of World War II had different epigenetic markers
than siblings born outside that period.
People born during famine have a higher chance of developing metabolic diseases later in life, leading scientists to suspect that the malnutrition they suffer during early development permanently affects the way
their bodies process food.
Since then, numerous animal studies have linked early exposure to pollutants, stress, and poor diet to a wide variety of epigenetic alterations that can shape everything
from hair color to brain development.
But Ainash Childebayeva, a biological anthropologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, says only a handful of studies have succeeded in spotting these trends
in humans.
Part of the reason is that it's
unethical for people to experience harmful events like famine to see gene expression forming.
Instead, scientists must look back at major historical events to determine whether they influenced people's biology later on
.
By comparing the markers of aging of about 800 people born in the 2030s, the team found that those born in the U.
S.
states hardest hit by the recession — the states with the hardest cuts in unemployment and wages — had a pattern of markers that made their cells look older
than their chronological age.
For those born in states with better economic conditions in the 2030s, the effect waned
.
These cells may have altered epigenetic tags
in early childhood or later in life.
But the findings suggest that children born during the Great Depression had laid a certain biological basis before they were born, and that foundation influenced their epigenetic aging
later in life.
Childebayeva said it's unclear whether diet, stress or other factors contribute to accelerated aging, and without going back in time and teasing out those effects, it's hard to pinpoint the biological mechanisms
behind the signals.
Still, she said, "these kinds of studies are really important because they highlight how important
early development is for health and disease outcomes later in life.
"
Although health care and economic theories for pregnant women have evolved since the 2030s, Schmitz believes that studies like this can shed light on today's social problems
.
Earlier this year, for example, the U.
S.
Supreme Court revoked federal abortion rights
.
Decades of research have shown that people who are denied abortions are more likely to experience financial hardship
after unwanted pregnancies than those who can have an abortion.
Schmitz said: "What we see from this study is that inequalities in socioeconomic structures make it difficult for women to access the care they need, which can have long-term consequences
.
As social inequalities rise around the world, the findings also highlight how paid maternity leave, benefits payments and other policies and programs can help close health disparities
in the future.
Our experiences in the first nine months can affect our entire lives
.
I think as a society we can agree that going through a recession before you are born shouldn't affect your longevity
.
”
