Although the connection between the health and lifestyle choices of mothers and their infants has long been studied, a new study by Georgetown University researchers reveals that paternal influence is much stronger than we think. In the study, the team suggests that everything from a father's alcohol consumption to age can influence the development of birth defects and gene expression in their children.
The findings are a part of a new wave of research shedding light on the impact that a father can have on the health of their baby beyond the standard genetic influences. For example, last year one study revealed that paternal obesity can influence sperm and increase the likelihood of the child being obese.
"This new field of inherited paternal epigenetics needs to be organized into clinically applicable recommendations and lifestyle alternations," said Janna Kitlinska of Georgetown University and senior author of the study. "And to really understand the epigenetic influences of a child, we need to study the interplay between maternal and paternal effects, as opposed to considering each in isolation."
The team reviewed more than 50 studies of humans and animals that examined the links between the health of fathers and the link to heritable epigenetic programming. The results revealed numerous links including advanced age to schizophrenia; autism and birth defects; drinking problems and lower birth weight; and psychosocial stress and behavioral issues.
"We know the nutritional, hormonal and psychological environment provided by the mother permanently alters organ structure, cellular response and gene expression in her offspring," Kitlinska said. "But our study shows the same thing to be true with fathers - his lifestyle, and how old he is, can be reflected in molecules that control gene function. In this way, a father can affect not only his immediate offspring, but future generations as well."
Although the results show a link between the health of fathers and birth defects and disabilities in offspring, the team stressed the effect is not causal. Further research will need to be conducted in order to better understand these connections and devise ways of intervening to prevent negative effects on offspring.
The findings were published online May 15 in the American Journal of Stem Cells.
