Male parent’s diet may alter metabolism of offspring he has never met
Mouse studies showed that a male parent’s eating habits may alter the metabolism of offspring that he has never met.
Significantly, the findings rule out the possibility of social influence.
Scientists still do not know how the mechanism works, but believe some kind of nutritional signal must be carried through the sperm that helps to shape early development.
The findings lend support to the theory that environmental factors can trigger heritable genetic effects that are carried down through generations.
Evidence for “epigenetic” influence has already been seen in a number of animal and human studies.
The most striking human research from Sweden suggested that a grandfather’s poor diet increased the risk of diabetes, obesity and heart disease in second-generation children.
But in these studies it was impossible to be sure the effects were not caused by social and economic influences.
In the new research, scientists focused on the activity of genes in mice whose fathers were fed a low-protein diet as they were growing up.
They found that hundreds of genes were altered in offspring sired by the protein-starved males.
Livers from the offspring showed numerous differences depending on the diet their fathers were given.
They included chemical modification of a DNA sequence that affects cholesterol and fat synthesis in the liver.
“It’s consistent with the idea that when parents go hungry, it’s best for offspring to hoard calories,” said study leader Dr Oliver Rando, from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Boston, US.
