Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
"You are what your father eats," according to new study.
http://www.treehugger.com/health/you-are-what-your-father-eats-according-new-study.html
“You are what your father eats,” according to new study.
Katherine Martinko, December 23, 2013
A study from McGill University has discovered that a father’s diet prior to conception is just as important as the mother’s when it comes to influencing their child’s health. The study examines vitamin B9, also known as folate, which comes from green leafy vegetables, meats, fruits, and cereals, and is known to reduce the likelihood of miscarriage and birth defects. Pregnant mothers must have good folate levels, but this study has shown that a father’s folate level has a big effect on a child’s health, too. Fathers should make sure they have a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle before trying to conceive a child.
Research was conducted using mice. One group had fathers with insufficient folate in their diets, and the other group had sufficient levels of folate. The offspring whose fathers had insufficient folate had an increased number of birth defects compared to the group with sufficient paternal folate. Dr. Romain Lambrot explained that there was an almost 30 percent increase in birth defects when the fathers had insufficient folate in their diet: “We were very surprised… We saw some pretty severe skeletal abnormalities that included both cranio-facial and spinal deformities.”
The conclusion is that sperm are able to carry a memory of the father’s environment, including his diet and lifestyle choices. This means that if fathers eat high fat, fast food diets or are obese, or if they live in an area of the world with food insecurity where it’s hard to get enough folate in their diets, or if they drink excessively or smoke, all of that information gets passed on to their offspring. Lead researcher, Sarah Kimmins, says:
<snip>
“You are what your father eats,” according to new study.
Katherine Martinko, December 23, 2013
A study from McGill University has discovered that a father’s diet prior to conception is just as important as the mother’s when it comes to influencing their child’s health. The study examines vitamin B9, also known as folate, which comes from green leafy vegetables, meats, fruits, and cereals, and is known to reduce the likelihood of miscarriage and birth defects. Pregnant mothers must have good folate levels, but this study has shown that a father’s folate level has a big effect on a child’s health, too. Fathers should make sure they have a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle before trying to conceive a child.
Research was conducted using mice. One group had fathers with insufficient folate in their diets, and the other group had sufficient levels of folate. The offspring whose fathers had insufficient folate had an increased number of birth defects compared to the group with sufficient paternal folate. Dr. Romain Lambrot explained that there was an almost 30 percent increase in birth defects when the fathers had insufficient folate in their diet: “We were very surprised… We saw some pretty severe skeletal abnormalities that included both cranio-facial and spinal deformities.”
The conclusion is that sperm are able to carry a memory of the father’s environment, including his diet and lifestyle choices. This means that if fathers eat high fat, fast food diets or are obese, or if they live in an area of the world with food insecurity where it’s hard to get enough folate in their diets, or if they drink excessively or smoke, all of that information gets passed on to their offspring. Lead researcher, Sarah Kimmins, says:
“Fathers need to think about what they put in their mouths, what they smoke and what they drink and remember they are caretakers of generations to come.”
<snip>
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
