When to have a baby: it turns out everything decides the DNA
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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As it became known, it is the characteristics of DNA that directly affect when a person decides to have children, or whether he wants children at all. This conclusion was reached by genetic scientists and medical specialists after a large-scale study.
The specialists identified twelve DNA zones responsible for the age at which the first child appears in the person , and also for the total number of children in the family.
"At last we managed to prove that it is always necessary to take into account the role of genetics in childbearing behavior of people, simultaneously with their individual choice, social status, and other possible factors. Control and planning of reproduction is only a small function we discovered among other mysterious possibilities of human nature, "explains one of the authors of the study, Nicola Barban, representing the University of Oxford in England.
During the study, information was analyzed about more than half a million people of men and women from different countries of the world. More information about the project can be found in the pages of the periodical Nature Genetics.
According to the sociologist of the University of Oxford, Melinda Mills, certain DNA zones have an impact, both on the childbearing behavior of people, and on the physiological reproductive functionality of the human body.
For example, in a female body, a gene that affects "procrastination with the birth of a child" has a connection with the genes responsible for later puberty and belated menopause. From this it follows that the entire period of human life associated with procreation is defined on several chromosomal sites.
Is a person really unable to resist DNA and influence the course of reproductive events in his life?
To this question, scientists have not yet received a scientifically grounded answer: research continues. Twelve DNA zones discovered by experts in the field of genetics affect the desire to acquire children and the reproductive capacity of humans, but not in all cases. Now scientists are trying to understand the reason for the peculiarities of procreation in other people who did not have such a connection with DNA.
Of course, the social situation, cultural development and many other factors predetermine the reproductive life of most people, but the importance of genes in this process is also great. To make less important the role of unfavorable factors, to control the "promises" of genes, to be able to "turn on or off" these or those genes - all this is still for scientists-geneticists.
Medical specialists especially expect the completion of such studies, because the information obtained during the experiments can be very useful - for example, for the treatment and prevention of infertility in women and men. Dr. Mills sincerely hopes that soon the day will come when scientists will be able to provide exhaustive data to answer many complex questions from the field of reproductive medicine.