Dad's High Fat Diet May Cause Diabetes in Daughters

The following article was recently featured on "Dr. Asa on Call" with Dr. Asa Andrew:

While everyone knows a pregnant mother's poor health habits can have negative effects on the development and long-term health of her offspring, very little attention has been given to the health of fathers. But a preliminary study suggests that fathers who eat high-fat diets prior to conception could lead their daughters to develop type 2 diabetes.

A new study published in the journal Nature last week suggests that dad's weight, metabolic health, blood glucose levels and physical fitness levels prior to conception could all pass on potential health problems to his children. Findings are preliminary, however, as the study was conducted on rats, not humans, in a laboratory at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

Researchers discovered that the female offspring of male rats consuming a high-fat diet who were paired with non-diabetic females began developing signs of diabetes by 13 weeks. Those daughters all had fathers who were obese and diabetic at the time of conception.

As a result, study authors suggest that the sperm of diabetic and obese males may be compromised, leading to health problems down the road for their children, particularly development of diabetes.

"If it is true in humans, then it may be potentially contributing to what seems to be the amplification of the obesity and diabetes epidemic," Margaret Morris, senior author of the study, told Reuters.

Dr. Peter McGovern, director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, told AOL Health the results of such studies are intriguing, particularly given his own experience treating couples for infertility. "I've had many couples over the years who have failed to achieve pregnancy, and I've told them to control diabetes or the sperm won't function well," he says. Those who take his advice usually find conception easier.

McGovern says obese men often have a hard time conceiving, but that it may be because they're borderline diabetic or suffer insulin resistance. However, he says there is no significant data on how the sperm of diabetic men may impact offspring health beyond the moment of conception.

But he believes there could be a connection. "Diabetes or insulin resistance clearly causes reproductive problems in women," he adds, "so we think it plays a role in men as well."

His advice to diabetic or obese men who are thinking of having kids? Get the diabetes under control. At the very least, it will likely increase a couple's chances for conception, and it could perhaps have impacts on the fetus' health as well. "We know smoking, drug use and excessive alcohol consumption all affect the health of sperm," McGovern says, and he urges men and women who want to be parents to work on getting fit and healthy first.

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