Nutrition of the father already before the production influences the child's health

Nutritional errors of fathers affect the health of the offspring

It has long been known that expectant mothers should live as healthy as possible so as not to endanger their child. But even fathers influence the health of their offspring through their diet. And even before a pregnancy, as scientists have now found out.

Not only expectant mothers should live healthily

Expectant mothers have always come to a healthy, balanced diet. Most women learn early on what is allowed on the diet during pregnancy. Meanwhile, however, the evidence that also the diet of the father is important for the children. For example, it has been shown in experiments with mice that the paternal diet can have an effect on the mental fitness of the offspring. And in a recent study, researchers now found that father's nutritional errors, even before conception, affect the health of his future children.

Not only the diet of the expectant mother, but also that of the father has an influence on the later health of the children. And even before a pregnancy, as researchers have found. (Image: goodluz / fotolia.com)

Impact on the offspring

That the lifestyle of the parents can have an impact on the offspring has been shown in numerous scientific studies.

In a study with mice, American researchers found that a high-fat diet of the father can negatively affect the metabolism of the offspring.

In animal experiments, the evidence that not only the diet of the mother, but also of the father affect the health of the child in general. And even before a pregnancy.

This is the result of a German-Chinese research team led by the nephrologist Prof. Dr. med. Berthold Hocher, who heads a working group for experimental nutritional medicine at the University of Potsdam.

Parental diet affecting children's organs

According to a statement from the University of Potsdam, the researchers were able to show in a study with rats that not only the maternal, but also the paternal diet can cause changes in the organs of the offspring.

To get their results, the researchers looked at the relationship between a high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt diet of the father during and before sperm maturation and a disturbed glucose metabolism in the child, which can later lead to diabetes.

It has been reported that folic acid treatment of pregnant mothers mitigated the negative effects of the father's nutritional failure.

The results of the study were published in the journal "Diabetologia".

Imprints already in the womb

As "fetal programming" researchers describe the phenomenon that it can already come in the womb to imprints that trigger later diseases in the child. The research field of fetal programming is still young.

The fact that there is a connection between the diet and diseases of the mother during pregnancy and later diseases of the offspring, doctors have been aware for about 25 years.

Now scientists have not only found evidence that the basics of childhood disease are laid before the pregnancy, but also that the fathers also influence their diet, how healthy their offspring later.

To determine the influence of paternal nutrition on the offspring, the researchers mimicked in experimental animal studies, a fast-food-rich diet, as it often occurs in young men.

The thus-fed fathers produced larger and heavier offspring compared to a control group, and in females glucose tolerance was also disturbed.

Also in the liver and the pancreas, the researchers were able to demonstrate negative effects of unhealthy diet.

Negative effects could be compensated with folic acid

"The underlying mechanisms are diet-dependent changes in the sperm of unhealthily fed sires," explains Professor Hocher.

The nutritional errors of the parents thus have a direct effect on the genetic information of their reproductive cells. These then pass the parents on to the next generation.

In their studies, researchers were not only able to uncover the relationship between diet and disease. They also showed that folate-treated pregnant rats gave birth to healthy rats without metabolic disorders.

With the vitamin, which is already routinely prescribed to pregnant women to prevent the so-called "spina bifida", the open back in babies, the negative effects of the unhealthy diet could be compensated. (Ad)