Did you know our mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is maternally inherited? This finding was discovered by Dr. Doug Wallace.
This is a critical fact, because the environment in which a mother is exposed to while carrying a fetus will have a direct impact on the mtDNA health of the baby upon birth. An important measurement of mtDNA health and function is something called % heterosplasmy. As % heteroplasmy rises in mtDNA due to energy deficiencies caused by the environment, so does the prevalence of genetic mutations leading to progressive aging and disease.
If a mother-to-be is living in a stressful environment (which I would define as any environment that does not abide by proper circadian light cycles, in addition to external stressors like toxins, radiation, etc) while carrying an unborn fetus, that baby will be born with a higher heteroplasmic rate. This means that although at birth the baby is physically 0 years old, biologically speaking, their mtDNA may be born as a 40 year old, and thus aging and disease will manifest sooner than that of a baby born with a low heteroplasmic rate. It saddens me to say, this is why our children are becoming more and more sick today when compared to previous generations. This is because humanity has created a chronically toxic environment.
The brain, the heart and the immune system contain the most mitochondria in the body. Is it a coincidence that heart disease, neurodegeneration and autoimmune diseases are booming? Could it be related to high % heteroplasmy rates in our mtDNA? I think so.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3809581/
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