For healthy kids,’marry a stranger’

Researchers have found that marrying a known person or within the family ups the risk that the kids will have a genetic disorder.

Want healthy kids? Get married to a stranger,says a new study.

Researchers have carried out the study and found that marrying a known person or within the family not only ups the risk that kids from the wedlock will have a genetic disorder,but also makes them more susceptible to some infections.

They analyzed genetic data from communities in Gambia and India where marriage within the extended family is common to come to the conclusion,the ‘New Scientist’ reported.

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In Gambian families where children had TB or hepatitis B,parents were significantly more likely to be related than in families with healthy children,the study by the Cambridge University found.

Lead researcher William Amos said “this is probably because the children have less diversity in the genes giving rise to the immune system”.

Children with leprosy in India,however,were not more likely to have related parents. Specific genes affect the risk of leprosy,according to Amos,which may drown out the subtler effects of relatedness.

The study has been published in the latest issue of the ‘Biology Letters’ journal.

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