Father’s sperm influence children’s weight
Information about the weight of a potential father that’s carried in sperm could influence his child’s health. Researchers from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research conducted a study that compared the epigenetic patterns in a group of lean men to a group of obese men. Epigenetics refers to heritable changes in gene expression caused by environmental factors without changing the underlying DNA sequence. They found that the two groups possessed different epigenetic patterns in their sperm with regards to genes involved in controlling appetite. The results are considered to offer an explanation as to why the children of obese fathers are likely to become obese themselves.
The discovery that weight loss in potential fathers could affect behaviour in their offspring is very exciting. It paves the way for new prevention strategies for childhood obesity. In the last bulletin we reported that the weight of mothers to be could also influence the health of a child so, coupled with this new information, it is clear that the behaviours of couples pre-conception could be very important in the future health of their children.
