PARENTING HEALTH

Diet Can Affect Healthy Sperm

2 min read
Diet Can Affect Healthy Sperm

Science has done it again “” pow, pow male reproductive organs, you’re not as protected in that sac as you thought!

Healthy sperm is not just about how fast they can swim and infiltrate a woman’s egg, science has discovered a whole host of health implications those little tadpoles can carry “” starting with diabetes.

Two new studies, published independently in the journal Science, showed that a father’s diet can powerfully affect his offspring.

In one of the studies, a team of Chinese researchers fed male mice a high-fat diet and then harvested their sperm to impregnate female mice. The offspring of those mice developed impaired insulin resistance and glucose intolerance “” both known precursors to diabetes “” while the offspring of a control group of mice did not.

A second study conducted by US and Canadian researchers, which ran the same experiment but with a low-protein diet, was less conclusive. The only changes to offspring that the researchers observed were some alterations in genes responsible for stem cell development.

Can a man's diet affect fertility
via www.reveal.co.uk

According to the HuffingtonPost, The findings suggest RNA “” a chain of acids whose job is to help carry out the “blueprint” contained in DNA  “” may play a significant role in the health of the child. In the Chinese experiment, transfer RNAs seemed to carry the information from the father’s diet that later impacted the offspring’s health.

Can a man's diet affect fertility
via www.wisegeek.com

“Traditionally, the male contribution to a child has been thought to be limited to one half of the child’s DNA,” Dr. Oliver Rando, a biochemist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and one of the study’s authors, told The Huffington Post.

“So this general idea that a father’s diet or environment can influence his children’s metabolism or other traits obviously challenges this way of thinking.”

New research also suggests that a prospective father’s diet may affect his fertility. Another recent study found environment and lifestyle factors “” including diet and exercise “” to be strongly linked to male reproductive health and infertility, potentially playing a role in decreasing birthrates globally.

Do you know any diet to boost men’s fertility?

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Kate Davies

Senior Journalist & Features Editor. As the modern-day media hunter-gatherer, Journalist Kate Davies is harnessing 10 years in the media to write...Read More engaging and empowering articles for Stay At Home Mum. Her years of experience working in the media both locally and nationally have given her a unique viewpoint and understanding of this dynamic industry. Hailing from a small town in Tasmania and spending many years travelling the world, Kate now calls the Sunshine Coast home alongside her husband and one-year-old son. Read Less

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