Gene FAS2, "biological potential" & BF

mom2ella

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discussion title:

Gene FAS2, "biological potential" & BF

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7374.1

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mom2ella

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Nov-1 6:30 pm

I'm way behind since breaking my ankles & I didn't want to jump into the biological potential thread since it was so long already.

When I use the term "biological potential" it means to me what nature intended for that specific person-every persons biological potential is different. It can be applied to several things from health, to IQ, to physical attributes like speed, flexibility, strength. A plethora of things in our life can effect it. IE genetically we are very flexible. My sister was dx'ed w/ Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis @ age 5. the JRA prevented her from reaching her biological potential when it comes to flexibility. Her range of motion is still better than Jane Q Public, but not as good as it would have been if she did not have JRA.

Have you seen the research on the gene FAS2?
http://www.physorg.com/news113505546.html

"Ninety percent of the children in the two study groups had at least one copy of the "C" version of FADS2, which yielded higher IQ IF THEY WERE BREASTFED(emphasis mine). The other 10 percent, with only the "G" versions of the gene, showed no IQ advantage or disadvantage from breastfeeding.

Since BF is the biological norm expected by the body-for 90% of people with the "C" version of FAD2 the lack of breastfeeding would result in a lower IQ. For 10% of people BF in THIS INSTANCE would not effect the biological potential in the area of IQ.

So if Susan has the "C" version of FAS2 & her biological potential for IQ is an average 100 & she is BF, BF takes nothing away from that. Not getting BM drops it 7 points to 93-still within average. Let's say she grows up in a house with lead paint- that drops it another 11 points. Now were at 82 or below average. Some studies show air pollution can drop it another 5 points & she grows up in a very polluted area. Susan is now at an IQ of 77 borderline retarded. Where Susan's "biological potential" was 100 the combination of influences dropped it a grand total of 23.

Do the 7 IQ points matter in the long run to the 90% of people that have the gene? Probably not, but of the totality of all the things that can affect IQ, BF is one that a mom(standard disclaimer) does have control over.

Andi

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harmony08

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Gene FAS2, "biological potential" & BF

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7374.2 in response to 7374.1

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harmony08

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mom2ella

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Nov-1 10:45 pm

So if Susan has the "C" version of FAS2 & her biological potential for IQ is an average 100 & she is BF, BF takes nothing away from that. Not getting BM drops it 7 points to 93-still within average. Let's say she grows up in a house with lead paint- that drops it another 11 points. Now were at 82 or below average. Some studies show air pollution can drop it another 5 points & she grows up in a very polluted area. Susan is now at an IQ of 77 borderline retarded. Where Susan's "biological potential" was 100 the combination of influences dropped it a grand total of 23.

Any studies to support that it works this way? That you can count up the IQ points lost from each individual study and add them together like that and then calculate a hypothetical *individual* person's IQ loss from it?

Personally, I think it's much more likely we keep seeing the same 5-7 point IQ drop and associating it with different things.

We know they found lower IQ in lead-exposed children, but lead-exposed children also tend to be lower SES, have parents with lower IQs, parents with less education, are more likely to have health problems, poor access to education and healthcare, etc., etc. All those are confounding factors. I haven't seen any study account for all of them.

When they study breastfeeding, and find ff'd children have lower IQs, sure that's what they see, but also the ff'd children are generally lower SES, have parents with lower IQs, parents with less education, etc., etc. So let's take our hypothetical child who was ff'd and lead exposed. Put him in study A and his 5 point lower IQ is associated with lead, put him in study B and his 5 point lower IQ is associated with being ff'd. Did that child lose 10 points, or 5 points?

Did you know they have found that children who eat margarine have 6 points lower IQ than children who don't? Children who are spanked scored 5 points lower on IQ tests too. Does this mean being spanked and eating margarine = 11 points off the IQ? I don't think so. I'm wiling to bet that children of lower SES are spanked more, and eat more margarine (and drink more soda, and consume a poorer diet throughout life, etc., etc.)

I found one site that lists a few actual experiments involving IQ. Did you know that giving your school aged child a vitamin supplement can boost their IQ 4-10 points? That would indicate nutrition matters, but that it can be improved in older children. They really don't know how well child IQ correlates to adult IQ, and how much environmental factors in infancy impact IQ compared to environmental factors during the rest of childhood. We don't know a "disadvantaged" child who scored 5 points lower in kindergarten or elementary school *can't* get it back.

The other thing that is missing from the studies is measuring and controlling for parental IQ. Parental IQ is often not tested at all, or if it is they don't use the good IQ tests. If you don't measure it properly you can't control for it in the study. So it's very possible that that remaining 5 points that keep showing up are really associated with parental IQ.

It could also be that the FAS2 gene demonstrates a person's susceptibility to environmental factors in general. So someone with the "G" version of the gene might have their IQ mostly regulated by genetic factors, it doesn't vary much when the environmental factors (like bf'ing, lead, margarine, parenting style) change. That someone with the "C" version is more susceptible to those environmental factors, and we know that ff'ing goes along with a slew of other environmental factors, we don't know which one's cause how much of the 5 point drop.

"The last of human freedoms - the ability to chose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances. " - Viktor Frankl.