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"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 fathers diet prior to conception is just as important as the mothers when it comes to influencing their childs 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 fathers folate level has a big effect on a childs 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 fathers 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 its 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 fathers diet prior to conception is just as important as the mothers when it comes to influencing their childs 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 fathers folate level has a big effect on a childs 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 fathers 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 its 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>
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"You are what your father eats," according to new study. (Original Post)
bananas
Dec 2013
OP
Response to bananas (Original post)
elocs This message was self-deleted by its author.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)2. "Fathers need to think about what they put in their mouths"
I think it says something about me that the first thing that popped into my mind was Goya's "Saturn Devouring His Son"
Auggie
(31,173 posts)3. Aha … that explains it!
wyldwolf
(43,867 posts)4. my parents must have been pounding down deep fried everything ....
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)5. So that's why I smell of elderberries.