Prove that the paternal diet influences the health of the children

2024/06/10 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna
• Genetika
• Dietetika/Elikagaiak

Changes in sperm produced by the parents' diet have consequences for the health of their children (not those of their daughters). This conclusion has been reached by researchers from the University of Utah (USA) through an epidemiological study conducted with 3000 more children. Thus, it is observed that the children of men who consumed high-fat foods have been more predisposed to metabolic problems, such as glucose intolerance (one of the indicators of diabetes). Similar problems have had the children of parents with a high body mass index.

These results have been confirmed by experiments conducted with mice. If a high-fat diet is given, the sperm of mice contains more pieces of transfer RNA. In turn, these parts are epigenetic genome regulators that influence the activity of certain mitochondrial genes. Other studies have also observed that, due to stress, mitochondria generate more RNA to generate more energy. These changes are transmitted to the next generation, but only to males. In fact, this is one of the questions for the next research: why it affects only children.