How can a father’s diet affect the health of his offspring?

Denmark – A study conducted on mice indicates that a father’s diet may affect his sons’ anxiety and his daughters’ metabolic health even before pregnancy.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that the balance of macronutrients (nutrient components of food that the body needs for energy and to maintain the body’s structure and organs) in the diet of male mice affects the level of anxiety-like behavior in the sons and the metabolic health of the girls.

The study takes a step towards understanding how the influence of diet is transmitted from generation to generation via the father’s sperm. It might ultimately provide nutritional guidance for future parents, with the aim of reducing the risk of metabolic diseases and mood disorders in the next generation.

According to the study conducted by an international team of researchers, parents are able to influence the health of their children through their diet, according to experiments conducted on mice.

The researchers discovered that the diet followed by the mouse father might have an impact not only on his reproductive health, but also on the health of his offspring.

Over- or under-feeding of male mice can affect the metabolism and behavior of their offspring, as well as their risk of cancer.

What was less clear to the researchers was whether there were different types of health effects on the health of the offspring, depending on the type and composition of the male mice’s diet before pregnancy.

This was the starting point for the research conducted by the team at the international GECKO consortium, with principal investigators in Copenhagen, Sydney and Chicago.

At the Charles Perkins Center at the University of Sydney in Australia, researchers fed male mice one of ten diets varying in proportions of protein, fat and carbohydrates, then allowed them to mate with females who were raised on a standard diet. The behavior and physiology of the resulting pups were then studied.

The researchers discovered that male mice fed low-protein, low-carbohydrate diets were more likely to give birth to male offspring with higher levels of anxiety. They also found that male mice fed a high-fat diet were more likely to give birth to daughters with higher levels of body fat and signs of metabolic disease.

“Our study shows that the type of diet eaten before pregnancy can program specific characteristics for the next generation,” says lead author of the study and leader of the GECKO consortium, Professor Romain Paris, from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Côte d’Azur in Nice.

Professor Stephen Simpson, study co-author and academic director of the Charles Perkins Center at the University of Sydney, explains: “It is extraordinary that by titrating the mixture of protein, fat and carbohydrates in a father’s diet, we can influence specific traits of the health and behavior of his sons and daughters. “There are some important biological factors at play here.”

The team noted that males on a low-protein diet also ate more food overall. However, thanks to the study design, they were able to determine that the amount of calories and macronutrient composition in the males’ diet affects the health of their offspring.

“Our study shows that it is not just regarding eating too much or too little, but also the composition of the diet that can have an impact on children in the future,” says Professor Romain Paris.

Source: Medical Express