Marriage between cousins during Mahabharat period - Page 6

Originally posted by: dhvanisoni

Since people are talking about incest marriages I would like share something.

I took an immunology course in my last year at the University and gained some detailed knowledge about why is it that the cousin marriages and/or sibling marriages produce weaker offspring or have defects, pregnancy losses and in some cases even cause stillbirths (mom giving birth to a dead baby).

Here is the info if somebody is interested: ( I have tried to write it in the simplest way possible)

There is something called HLA in our bodies which are somewhat like immune cells which help fight disease. These HLA antigens are also used to determine how compatible a donor's organ (say for example, a kidney) is in case of transplants. The more common the HLA antigens the better the recipient will survive.

But, when it comes to pregnancy its kind if the opposite. The more different the HLA antigens are of mom and dad, the better survival rate of the baby. This is because mom's body first recognizes the baby HLAs different and develops an immune response to it. In order to protect the baby the cells at the barrier between the mom n baby produce chemicals to fight back. This prepares the baby to fight back diseases in outside world as well.

Also, another interesting finding is that the more diverse the HLAs are of a male and a female the more attracted the female is to the male's body odour. So, a women is by nature attracted to a man that has least common HLAs and thus producing an offspring that is more viable.

Originally posted by: amukta

@ krirrishnaa. ..from kuru clan Maadri commits sati and dies along with Pandu.