A new study suggests that men should think about a lifestyle change before thinking about having children. Weight loss should be included in men's family planning.
The study suggests that diet should be considered before thinking of starting a family. Scientists have found that the DNA in the sperm isolated from obese males who lost weight via gastric bypass undergo changes that predisposes their future children to be slimmer.
Romain Barres from University of Copenhagen led the study. He explains that the research they conducted could lead to pre-conception behavior changes when it comes to the father.
They conducted the study on the DNA's of six obese men who underwent surgery for weight loss. The researchers were not able to find genetic changes but were able to isolate an average of 5,000 non-genetic alterations to the structure of sperm DNA molecules.
Dr. Barres explained that these epigenetic changes could possibly be passed on to the offspring. However, he stresses that this is only a hypothesis.
He further explained that it's only an association and he hypothesized that the weight loss associated with the surgery might have caused changes to the sperm. "If so, it means that what men transmit to their children may change over time," Dr Barres said.
Over-all, the message is for men to take care of themselves prior to having children. If women are able to do so especially during pregnancy, there's no reason men should not be able to take care of themselves.
Professor Allan Pacey, from the University of Sheffield, said that the study is an interesting take that supports the theory "...that some characteristics can be passed by sperm from a father to his children, without altering the basic structure of the genetic code", Pacey commented.
The study is published in the journal Cell Metabolism, as announced.
