Q: Everyone is always focusing on how important it is for us mothers-to-be to have a healthy diet and weight before becoming pregnant, but what about the dads? Why do they get off the hook? -- Frannie R., Springfield, Virginia
A: They aren’t off the hook. Research over the past decade shows that a man’s diet impacts sperm quality and can affect the health of his offspring. In 2015, a study comparing the sperm of obese and healthy-weight men found that epigenetic gene changes in the sperm of obese men can potentially affect the development of a future embryo and, ultimately, change a child’s health throughout life. Potential trouble spots include causing an increased risk that a child will be biologically inclined to overeat and develop diabetes. The good news is that if a future father loses weight before conception, that may reverse potential risks to his offspring.
Then, a couple of years later, another lab study found that a father’s nutritional quality can impact his children’s mental fitness, behavior and intelligence.
And now there’s a new lab study published in Nature Communications that reveals that male mice fed low-protein, high-carb diets have male offspring that are more likely to be very anxious, and when the future dads eat a high-fat diet, their future daughters are at increased risk of metabolic disease (diabetes) and obesity.
So, let your future partner know how important it is for him to adopt a healthy diet -- and weight and take a prenatal multivitamin, too. The basics are straightforward: Avoid highly processed foods, added sugars, inflammatory processed meats, and excess saturated fat. Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily; opt for lean proteins like skinless chicken and salmon. Enjoy nuts and seeds that deliver a concentrated dose of nutrients. For guidance and support, he can go to LongevityPlaybook.com and Dr. Oz’s blogs on iHerb.com, including “Consider This When Consuming Carbohydrates.” His kids will thank him!
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Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb.com, the world’s leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively.
(c)2024 Michael Roizen, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.