Season of birth, epigenetics, and allergic disease

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Why is it important?

Because season of birth influences so many things, the epigenetic marks discovered in this study could also potentially be the mechanism for other seasonally influenced diseases and traits too, not just allergy. Further research is needed to understand what it is about the different seasons of the year that leads to altered disease risk as many things later with the seasons including temperature, sunlight levels and our diets (for example amount of fresh fruit an vegetables). More study is also needed on the relationship between DNA methylation and allergic disease, and whether other environmental exposures also alter the epigenome, with potential disease implications