Obese fathers are more likely to have children who are born with high levels of body fat, a new study reported.
The study was conducted by Ohio University researchers who found that, in a group of mice, fathers' diet played an important role in determining the offspring's body fat.
Many studies that have linked mother's diet and obesity to fat levels in babies. A previous research from Jerusalem had suggested that children born to obese mothers are at greater risks of having health complications even during later stages of life. A recent study had found that obese grandmothers pass health risks to their grandchildren.
The latest study has shown that having an obese father could also be a risk factor for obesity in children.
"We've identified a number of traits that may affect metabolism and behavior of offspring dependent on the pre-conception diet of the father," said Felicia Nowak, an associate professor of biomedical sciences at Ohio University, lead author of the study.
For the study, a group of male mice were fed a high-fat diet for 13 weeks before they mated with female mice that were fed with a low-fat diet. Their progeny was then given a low-fat diet and assessed for health complications at 20 days, six weeks and at six and 12 months.
The study found that male offsprings of obese mice had a higher body weight by the time they were 6 weeks old. Also, the progeny of obese mice were obese throughout the study period, even though they were on a low-fat diet.
However, male offsprings of obese fathers were more physically active than mice in the control group. The next step for researchers will be to identify genes that are associated with physical and behavioral changes.
"Early detection and prediction of risk for obesity, diabetes and related diseases will enable individuals and health care workers to delay or prevent the related disabilities and increase life expectancy," Nowak said in the news release.
The study findings were presented at the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society in San Francisco, Calif.