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Two important studies published in rapid succession have shown that children who grow up in an environment of violence or of severe deprivation show modifications in their genetic blueprints (DNA) which increase the risk of various diseases. Our health depends on our genetic heritage but also, and in an extremely important way, on the environment to which we expose our genes, an environment which can epigenetically modulate the probability of these genes being expressed or repressed. Chronic diseases and early aging are the result of this interaction. Download this column