In fact a new field of epigenetics is focused on chemical changes which determine if a gene is expressed or not.
This article I discovered today is very interesting if you have an interest in science, genetics or evolution as it details the concept of a molecular memory of a parent's experience. A few items of note are scientists have been able to alter the genes of worms to get them to live longer but offspring bred with non-mutated worms and no longer possessing the mutations still lived longer.
Basically it proves you can alter offspring through methods beyond mutations.
There is also a reference to a paper which shows the diet of a parent can change the offspring's cholesterol and lipids. Moreover, parents eating high-fat diets made daughters fatter and gave them type 2 diabetes.
While this topic is not my usual area of focus - I have always found science fascinating and moreover, I can't help but think that if the cost of healthcare is such a huge problem and it is in-part rising due to an ever-heavier population... Are we ever going to be able to bring the costs down if the next generation has to fight even harder to stay healthy and non-diabetic?
I realize I am making a leap between the mice in these studies and humans but casual observation shows that children generally have similar body types and fat percentages as their parents.
Hopefully epigenetics will be a field in-part responsible for bringing costs down by reducing the ability of unwanted genes to express themselves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
