Overall, environmental factors such as starvation, overfeeding or physical inactivity can take part in epigenetic changes in the parent. During the Dutch Hunger Winter, a famine in the Netherlands, researchers found that children born while their mothers suffered through the famine were more prone to diabetes.

How can non-genetic changes be inherited through generations?

Specifically, how is Type-2 Diabetes passed down from generation to generation?                              

Figure 1. Epigenetic changes inherited through generations.