Menstruation is part of the female gender from puberty to menopause, but not all women start having their period at the same age.
The first menstruation is determined by DNA, as confirmed by a study published in the journal Nature and carried out by the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, in which more than one hundred international centers have participated.
Menstruation and DNA according to a study
- One of the most complete statistical analyzes on the subject was carried out by the scientific team, evaluating 182,416 women of European descent.
- In this work, 123 genetic variants have been discovered that are directly related to the appearance of the first bleeding at puberty, the so-called menarche.
- This discovery may facilitate the prevention of diseases that are linked to women who present an early cycle, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or breast cancer.
- The genetic factors involved in the development of menarche are being evaluated to understand how they are related to the health problems mentioned above and thus be able to prevent them in the future, as indicated by one of the authors and researchers at Boston University, Sinc Joanne Murabito.
- Six of the menarche signals are found in areas of the genome that are linked to a phenomenon whereby the gene is expressed according to parental origin, with some genes only active when inherited from the mother and others when inherited from the father.
- The study also verified new hormonal signaling pathways involved in growth and development that could be the trigger between age at menarche and disease risk.
