Don’t blame baby – stretch marks are in your genes!

FOR many women, they are theprice of pregnancy, but a luckyfewcanbecomemotherswithoutsufferingstretchmarks.

Nowscientistshavesolvedthemysteryaboutwhysomepeoplearemorepredisposedtothescars–andtheanswerisinourgenes.

ResearchersexaminedtheDNAof more than 760,000 people andfoundthereare544‘geneticmarkers’linkedtostretchmarks.

AccordingtoresearcherDrOlgaSazonova, some of these increasethe likelihood of suffering stretch marks,whileothersappeartoprotectagainstthem.

Her team at the US-based firm23andMe used the DNA data tocreate a computer model whichcouldpredictwhetherapersonwasmore or less likely to developstretchmarks.

DrSazonovasaid:‘Forme,81percentofpeoplewithgeneticandotherfactors similar to me have stretchmarks,while19percentdon’t.’

While stretch marks are mostassociatedwithpregnancy,othercausesincludegrowthspurtsduringpubertyorsimplypilingonthe pounds.Themarkitselfisatypeofscarcausedbystretchedskinfailingto repair perfectly. Skin cellsofpeoplewithstretchmarksaregenetically programmed to makeloweramountsofcertainproteinsimportantforelasticityandrepair,suchastheaptlynamedelastin.

The23andMestudywasbasedonresults from 670,000 people ofEuropean descent, with another90,000 from other ethnic groupsincluding African-Americans,Latin Americans and those ofSouthAsianorigin.

Allwereaskediftheyhadstretchmarksontheirarms,legsandhips.Theywerepurposefullynotaskediftheyhadstretchmarksontheabdomentotrytoensuretheresultswere not skewed by pregnancy.Nonetheless, the reported rate ofstretch marks was much higherinwomenthaninmen.

Dr Sazonova said it was likelysome of this difference was duetomothersmistakenlyincludingabdominal stretch marks, butadded it was possible women’sphysiology also made their skinmorepronetothem.

Therateswereslightlyhigherinnon-EuropeansbutDrSazonovasaidthiscouldbebecausestretchmarks were more noticeable ondarkerskin.

Unfortunately, little can be doneto stop stretch marks forming inthefirstplace–otherthanavoidingpregnancyandputtingonweight–ortomakethemdisappear.

‘Youcanfindallkindsofclaimsontheinternet,butrealisticallyIdon’t think we have enough solidevidence to really say, “Here isone action you could take,”’ DrSazonovasaid.

Happily, there is evidence thattimecanbeahealer–olderpeoplereportlessscarring.

The bad news? Nothing can be done to stop them