Poor lifestyle habits even have an impact on the offspring. Overweight men have DNA changes that affect children’s risk of obesity.
You are what your father ate. According to a study conducted by the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), a man’s lifestyle, in particular his body size, influences the risk that his offspring is overweight or not. To reach these conclusions, the authors of the study, published in Cell Metabolism, analyzed the semen of 13 men of normal weight and 10 obese men.
Environmental factors reshape the genome: this is the working hypothesis of the team led by Romain Barrès. The semen analysis confirmed it. Researchers have discovered a modification of a ribonucleic acid (RNA) subtype involved in heredity. Between obese and normal-weight men, more than 9,000 genes exhibit different methylation. In some cases, this phenomenon is absent. In others, it is excessive. And this can affect the expression of these genes.
Reversible process
“We now know that children born to obese fathers are predisposed to develop obesity themselves later in life, regardless of their mother’s weight. This is crucial new information, which informs us that we need to be mindful of the health of fathers before conception. And this is a message that must continue to be conveyed in society, ”says Ida Donkin, co-author of the article.
The other discovery of this study is that the phenomenon is reversible. Among obese men, those who had weight loss surgery experienced a new change in their DNA methylation. This time she was closer to normal. On average, 4,000 structural changes occurred between the preoperative analysis and that occurring one year after the operation.
“We must further examine the significance of these changes, tempers Romain Barrès. However, this is preliminary evidence that semen carries information about a man’s weight. And our results imply that father’s weight loss may influence the eating behavior of unborn children. “
.
