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study says fathers-to-be should watch what they eat

as a father-to-be, your health and diet before conceiving a child significantly impacts your offspring far more than once thought.

by angelica bottaro

jun 21 2024
read time 4 minute read
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eating healthy before conceiving a child is essential for both parents, not just mothers. getty images
the often-overused cliché “you are what you eat” typically applies to your diet as an adult, but as it turns out, a new study says your health may also be heavily influenced by what your father ate before you were conceived.

the study, conducted by a team of researchers led by dr. raffaele teperino, the leader of the environmental epigenetics research group at helmholtz munich, found a direct link between paternal diet and the risk of metabolic diseases in children .

building a hypothesis

to gather initial data, the researchers pulled from the life child study, a long-term research study that has been looking at the development of children to monitor health and disease since 2011.
the cohort study, which has had over 4,500 children and 1,000 pregnant participants, monitored various environmental, biological, and behavioural factors from pregnancy until the child was six months old to determine how differences in those factors during gestation and early life influenced health.
the results gathered from the data pulled from the life child study showed that paternal health has more to do with offspring health than once thought. as it turns out, a father’s weight during conception significantly influences a child’s risk of developing metabolic disease, as well as their risk of being overweight or developing obesity.

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what’s more is that when fathers were overweight or had obesity, the results were the same with or without the influence of other factors such as environmental conditions, genetics passed down from the father, or how much the mother weighed during pregnancy.

confirming the theory

to further solidify their findings, dr. teperino and the research team conducted more research using mice. they investigated the effect fathers had on the health of offspring by assessing the mitochondrial trna fragments (mt-tsrnas) found in sperm.
these molecules play a significant role in passing down gene expression instructions that regulate physiological processes and pathological phenotypes. physiological processes are ways organs, organ systems, and other cells, tissues, and molecules in the body work as a team to create the most optimal foundation for good health. pathological phenotypes are observable characteristics and traits of health.
to put it plainly, these small rna molecules control gene expression in offspring, essentially giving their future children’s dna the health traits they will grow up to have after being born.
during the study, the mice were fed a high-fat diet to see how it affected their reproductive health and organs. the epididymis, specifically, the area in the male reproductive system that drives the maturation of newly formed sperm, was given a particular focus.
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as it turns out, the offspring of the mice fed a high-fat diet were more likely to develop metabolic disease because of how the diet affected the genetic material passed down through the matured sperm in the affected mice’s epididymis. the research didn’t stop there, though.
dr. teperino and the team began conducting additional studies using tube fertilization (in-vitro) of mice embryos. the sperm from mice with high-fat diets contained mt-tsrnas in early embryonic development, further showing a connection to those physiological and phenotype processes. this confirms these mt-tsrna molecules can drive poor health if the sperm is subjected to a poor diet.
in an article in scitech daily, research director at helmholtz munich and co-author of the paper from the study, professor martin hrabê de angelis, said, “our hypothesis that acquired phenotypes over the course of life, such as diabetes and obesity, are transmitted via epigenetic mechanisms across generations, is reinforced by this study. here, epigenetics serves as a molecular link between the environment and the genome, even across generational boundaries. this occurs not only through the maternal line but, as our research results indicate, also through the paternal line.”

understanding the results and how paternal health influences offspring

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mitochondria, popularly known as the “powerhouse of the cell,” possesses a unique type of dna known as mitochondrial dna or mt-dna. the proteins it produces and then passes on to offspring are influenced by mt-rna or mitochondrial rna.
traditionally, it was thought that the genetic makeup of an offspring’s mitochondria was inherited from their mothers only, but these results change the narrative regarding the health of offspring based on their findings as they relate to mitochondrial dna and rna.
the data shows that fathers, too, pass down fragments of mt-rna that indirectly drive the genetic health profiles of their children, especially as it relates to energy metabolism and metabolic disease.

using the data in preventive care for fathers-to-be

women have been tasked with taking extra special care of their health when wanting to conceive a child, with very little onus put on fathers. however, this research shows that a father’s health has a much more significant role in the health of the child than once thought. because of this, more attention should be paid to paternal health prior to conception to give the offspring the best chance at a healthy life.
from a clinical standpoint, the results call on medical providers to place more emphasis on paternal health, but from a personal standpoint, watching what you eat could mean all the difference when it comes to the category of risk, whether high or low, your future child falls into.

so, while you may not be a father yet, when planning to have a child, it’s crucial to work towards your best health as early as possible before conception.

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angelica bottaro
angelica bottaro

angelica bottaro is the lead editor at healthing.ca, and has been content writing for over a decade, specializing in all things health. her goal as a health journalist is to bring awareness and information to people that they can use as an additional tool toward their own optimal health.

read more about the author

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