How to calculate the future baby’s skin color?

In reality, there are no scientific methods based on a simple Mendelian genetic algorithm as there is, for example, to calculate the future baby’s eyes of hair color.

Several genes are involved in the skin color. These will determine in particular the production and distribution of a brown pigment called melanin. The greater the amount of melanin contained in the cells, the darker the skin color. A couple who have black skin will have children of the same skin color. But in a mixed couple, the children will have a variable mix. The combined action of the genes responsible will determine randomly, the color of the baby's skin, some may have very dark skin and others lighter skin.

But in general terms, and without being a geneticist, everyone has already realized that two parents with very white skin could not have a child with black skin, or vice versa.

Of course, there are very special cases, where children, without special genetic mutations, are born with a different skin color than their parents and grandparents. But this is still quite rare, and often happens in population groups with very varied ethnic origins (the case of Brazil for example).

The type of skin color is influenced by multiple genes which, in combination with each other, can determine various color gradations between “milky white” and “ebony black”. The child of a black man and a white woman will, a priori, be mixed race, with chocolate-colored skin. Contrary to popular belief a few years ago, the skin color of a Métis child is not the direct result of a mixture of colors; it depends on the autonomous action of the paternal genes and the maternal genes which equally affect the pigmentation of the skin, leading to an intermediate color. In the children of these mixed-race children, however, the original division can occur: meaning that their skin can be very dark or, conversely, very light.

So, how does this baby skin color calculator work?

This calculator works thanks to an algorithm taking into account the experience of many contributors. Each Internet user can enter the combination of skin colors of his family, and indicate the skin color of his or her children. This allows everyone to contribute to the improvement of the calculation method. A recognition system exclude "fanciful" contributions in order to keep only probable results.

There are a multitude of different skin colors in human beings, each one equally beautiful. But this calculator only uses 6 color groups, based on the Fitzpatrick Skin Phototype Scale.

Qualitative biological characters and quantitative biological characters

Over the millennia, the color of human skin has adapted to local sunlight. A natural filter, melanin, has gradually developed under the influence of this selection pressure.

The human species has a special status in nature. It is the only one that has survived in all environments, and today is present on all continents and in all climates. Although very young (some 100,000 to 200,000 years), we have developed traits adapted to different environments. The prehistoric populations had neither warm clothes nor accessories to protect themselves from the climate; they did not have balanced diets either. They therefore had to develop natural protection, adapted to local characteristics.

Humans live in varied environments, between steppe and equatorial forest, between Saharan desert and arctic. Among the characteristics that constitute human diversity, there is one that commands attention: the Skin color

Biological characters are separated into two groups: qualitative characters whose number of variables is finite (for example, the character "blood group" has three variables, which are A, B and O), and quantitative characters whose variables take all values from one extreme to another (for example, the size of individuals). As we will see, skin color is a quantitative trait. A qualitative trait, such as a blood type, is predictable from one generation to the next because it obeys the Mendelian laws of inheritance. On the other hand, a quantitative trait is under the control of several genes, sometimes of several dozen, and it is impossible to predict the result of the union of two individuals. The skin color gives rise to a strange paradox, which opposes the language and biology.

How to determine someone's skin color for using this calculator

This future baby's skin color calculator uses the Fitzpatrick scale. On this scale, skin colors are divided into 6 groups determined according to the reaction of the skin during sun exposure.

The phototype is determined by the amount and color (yellow, red, brown or black) of the melanin pigments produced by the melanocytes. There are two main types of melanin: pheomelanin or red melanin and eumelanin or black melanin. The amount of melanin (mixture of pheomelanin and eumelanin) together with the blood component of the subepidermal capillaries determines the color of the skin.

Type I (VERY FAIR): Very pale skin; red or blond hair; blue / green eyes; freckles. Always burns, never tans.

Type II (FAIR): Pale skin ; red or blond hair; blue, hazel or green eyes. Burns easily, tans hardly.

Type III (MEDIUM): Clear skin ; any hair and eye color. Sometimes burns slightly, gradually tans.

Type IV (OLIVE): Tanned skin. Burns only very lightly, tans easily.

Type V (BROWN): Dark skin. Rarely burns, tans easily to a dark shade.

Type VI (BLACK): Very dark or black skin. Never burns, tans systematically and very easily to a dark shade.

Baby's skin color at birth

At birth, the skin of newborns is very red due to the effort made in childbirth, although it gradually acquires its definitive tone, which depends on the genetic inheritance of their parents.

Many babies are born with lanugo, a fine dark-colored hair that covers their bodies in pregnancy, especially the shoulders and back, which is more common in premature babies. This hair has been protecting your skin inside the uterus, and it gradually falls off after delivery.

As soon as they are born, the skin of babies (except those born by cesarean section) usually has a purple-red color that can be worrisome, but this is totally normal after the effort suffered by the little one when passing through the birth canal. As soon as you begin to breathe through your lungs, it becomes more rosy, although your hands and feet may still be somewhat blue.

In general, the skin of the newborn is more pink than that of adults, since their blood contains more red blood cells. In addition, its tone is lighter, since its skin hardly contains melanin as it has not been in contact with the sun (that is why it is necessary to protect your skin in extreme).

Is the newborn's skin color not final?

For the American Academy of Pediatrics, newborn babies' skin is lighter at birth, even when it comes to dark-skinned babies. However, it will tend to darken as they grow. The lighter tone, with which it is born, is due to the fact that the baby has not yet had contact with climatic agents such as the sun. In addition, it is normal for those to be more pink than their parents, because there are a greater number of red blood cells in their blood.

The genetic factor is another aspect that must be taken into account when talking about the final tone of the skin of a newborn; so if both parents are white, the child will tend to have the same color; on the other hand, if one parent is white and the other is black; the dominant character of the black genes will make the baby more prone to darker skin.

After all that has been seen, it can be said that there are different factors that determine the time in which the final color of the baby's skin is defined. To begin with, after the first breath, the baby will lighten the color with which it was born, but it will only be from contact with the outside that the final tone can be determined; to this we must add the genetic factor and even the diet that is provided.

Is it normal for babies' skin color to change?

The color of the baby's skin is a characteristic that draws a lot of attention to parents. It is surprising that at birth it presents a different tonality than the one it will have later and that in certain postures or with crying it changes to a more intense color. As the days go by, these variations cease to occur until the skin tone stabilizes.

When we see the baby for the first time after delivery we are surprised by its color, sometimes it is purple-red and with a whitish substance on top (this is vernix, a layer of fat that has protected the body during pregnancy and is reabsorbs on its own two to three days after birth).

The purple color is due to the effort that has been made to cross the birth canal, but it disappears in the following hours, until it results in a much rosier tone.

In some cases, the baby may continue to have bruised areas of the body such as the feet and hands, because the blood circulation is not well established yet, but this color must be corrected as soon as it reaches its first 24 hours of life. If this does not happen and the tone remains, it should be mentioned to the doctor or neonatologist.

Children born by cesarean section are an exception, they arrive in the world with a wonderful color, more beautiful and natural, pinkish and not at all purple because they have saved the effort of childbirth.

In addition to color, another surprising peculiarity of newborn skin is that it is so thin and has so little fat that the veins and capillaries can be seen through it.

This characteristic is very accentuated in premature babies, who have almost transparent skin. As children gain weight, their skin thickens and veins are no longer visible to the naked eye.

Why does your baby's skin color change?

If you have just had a child, and it is also the first, it will be normal to be surprised by the changes in the tone of their skin, as well as the changes in the color of the baby's eyes. The first days of a newborn's life are a whole roller coaster of experiences and doubts for new parents, especially for the mother who, after giving birth, faces the biggest change in her life and an explosive hormonal cocktail that it often makes things more complicated.

Whether you have just given birth, or you are already having labor contractions, or you still have a pregnant belly, but you are preparing for the arrival of your child, inform yourself about what is normal regarding changes in the skin tone of the baby.

Once you've read this, you will stop worrying about your baby's skin tone and can focus on enjoying your little one. Although yes, we already anticipate that other small concerns will come as if he is well fed, how to help him expel gas, if it is normal for him to wake up so often, if the baby's weight curve is adequate or what to do if it comes out a bump after a hit. Welcome to motherhood!

Skin color and genetic ancestry

Skin pigmentation is a central element of most discussions on "race" and genetics. Research on the genetic basis of population variation in this phenotype, which is important in mediating both social experiences and environmental exposures, is sparse.

Importance of pigmentation

The prevalence of several common diseases differs among populations. Although such health disparities may largely be the result of differential access to health care and differences in socioeconomic factors and environmental exposures, there may also be risk alleles that differ in frequency among populations. Therefore, tests of correlations between genetic ancestry and phenotype can be a good starting point for research on the causes of health disparities.

Even if the ultimate cause for the difference is primarily environmental, individual genetic ancestry analysis can provide a biological reference point against which to study cultural and environmental factors. This line of investigation is in the very early stages of development and has benefited tremendously from studies of skin pigmentation.

Skin pigmentation is one of the most variable phenotypes in humans, but very little is known about the genetic basis and evolutionary history of this polygenic trait. Understanding the genetics of human pigmentation and the distribution of pigmentation alleles within and among populations is important.

Skin pigmentation is also of interest from the biological point of view. Melanin has a key physiological role, mediating the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation reaching the dermal capillaries and therefore influencing the rate of UV-induced photolysis and photo activation of compounds that function in many physiological pathways. Finally, skin pigmentation is useful as a model phenotype for ancestry and admixture mapping studies and can and should be used to evaluate these methods for assessing the biology and sociology of health disparities.

Constitutive pigmentation, the melanin content of unexposed areas of the skin, is a polygenic trait that is relatively unaffected by environ-mental factors. Pigmentation varies markedly both within and between geographic regions. Both dark- and light-skinned populations are found on most continents, and a strong correlation between latitude and incident UV is evident.

The differences in pigmentation observed among human populations are probably due to the action of natural selection, but drift and sexual selection may have been important as well. UV radiation levels, and their effects on vitamin D synthesis, photolysis of folate, sunburn and skin cancer, are believed to be important factors in driving the evolution of skin pigmentation genes. Despite advances in our knowledge of the genes involved in the pigmentation pathway, little is known about the genetic basis of normal variation in pigmentation within and among human populations. Because of the key role that selection (natural and sexual) has had in the evolution of constitutive pigmentation and other superficial traits, the variation of these phenotypes among human populations is typically higher than the average variation across the genome. In humans, most genetic markers and traits show relatively small differences between populations.