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New research has shown that a lack of protein in a father’s diet affects sperm quality which can have a direct impact on the long-term health of their children. University of Nottingham fed male mice a poor quality diet which resulted in their offspring becoming over weight, with symptoms of type 2 diabetes and reduced expression of genes which regulate the metabolism of fat.
Sperm and the fluid in seminal plasma from male mice fed a low protein diet could affect the long-term metabolic health of their offspring. Sperm from men who are overweight, smoke, drink excessively or who have type 2 diabetes are often of poorer quality than sperm from healthy, fertile men.
According to Dr. Adam Watkins, Assistant Professor in Reproductive Biology at the University of Nottingham led the study, what a mother eats during pregnancy can affect the development and health of her child. The 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.
The study, carried out on mice, found that males fed a low protein diet produced sperm with fewer chemical tags on their DNA that regulate gene expression than mice fed a normal diet. Researchers also observed that the seminal plasma suppressed maternal uterine inflammatory and immunological responses, essential for a healthy pregnancy.
The health of a father’s offspring is affected both by the quality of a father’s genetic information passed on within the sperm at conception, and by the seminal plasma-primed maternal uterine environment in which the embryo will develop.
Sperm contribute more than just half of the genes that make up a child. During natural conception sperm deposited in the female reproductive tract are bathed in seminal plasma which can in itself influence pregnancy outcomes. The shows that the composition of seminal plasma can be altered by father’s diet, and that this can also influence offspring wellbeing.