A new study has revealed a lack of protein in a man’s diet could affect the quality of his sperm, according to Medical Press.
This may then have a direct impact on the long-term health of any children he has.
Research has been carried out at the University of Nottingham entitled “Paternal diet programmes offspring through sperm and seminal plasma-specific pathways in mice”.
During this study, male mice were fed a low protein diet and this resulted in their offspring becoming overweight.
The baby mice also had symptoms of type 2 diabetes and a reduced metabolism of fat.
The report showed the poor health of the offspring was a result of the poor diet detrimentally affecting both sperm and seminal plasma fluid they are carried in.
This study is being hailed by Medical Press as “bridging the gap” in people’s understanding how diet can affect a man’s children.
The study at the University of Nottingham was led by Dr Adam Watkins, the assistant professor in Reproductive Biology.
He said: “It is well understood that what a mother eats during pregnancy can affect the development and health of her child.
“As such, there is a lot of information available to women who want to become pregnant about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and good dietary choices both for their own health and that of their child.
“Interestingly, little, if any, advice is available for the father. Our research using mice shows that at the time of conception, the diet and well-being of the father influences the long-term growth and metabolic health of his offspring.
“Our study not only identifies what impact a poor paternal diet has on the health of his offspring but also starts to uncover how these effects are established”.
The aim of the research was to prove that sperm has a big impact on the genes that make up a child, on top of the way the mother looks after herself during her pregnancy.
The researches believe their study shows that the health of man’s children is affected firstly by his genetic information which is passed on through his sperm during conception.
The health of the child is then also affected by the condition of the seminal plasma-primed maternal uterine environment in which the embryo will develop.