Rising Disease Prevalence Signals Epigenetic Degeneration in Humans

Two clear epidemiological patterns are emerging in human populations: first, a rise in the prevalence of numerous diseases and phenotypic conditions; and second, the increasing appearance of conditions once associated with old age in younger individuals. This study explores these patterns using the Accumulated Mean Annual Variation (AMAV), a novel metric designed to integrate heterogeneous trend data from multiple studies. The findings suggest that many of these increasing trends may share a common systemic and potentially transgenerational driver, a phenomenon previously proposed as Epigenetic Degeneration (ED). The ED hypothesis extends the Double Code Hypothesis of Ageing, which frames ageing as a consequence of inheriting and transmitting both genetic and epigenetic information across generations. In addition, this work introduces the principle of pre-determined post-processing, complementing the classic principle of labelled lines in neuronal biology, and proposes an evolutionary explanation for the persistence of traits such as homosexuality that are otherwise difficult to reconcile with reproductive fitness models. Together, these contributions aim to provide a unified, testable framework with implications for epidemiology, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology.