Fathers could increase the risk of their daughters developing heart disease by eating a high-cholesterol diet, according to recent research.
A team of scientists from universities in California, Nevada, and Utah fed male mice a high-cholesterol diet and found their female offspring were at an increased risk of developing heart disease.
Heart disease—more properly known as cardiovascular disease (CVD)—is an umbrella term for a plethora of conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels, and is collectively the leading cause of death in the U.S. and worldwide.
Previous studies have found that the diet of pregnant mothers can impact the heart disease risk of their offspring, but this study investigated the relationship between a father's diet and his children's health.
"It had been previously thought that sperm contribute only their genome during fertilization," said biomedical scientist Professor Changcheng Zhou, the study's lead author, in a statement.
"However, recent studies by us and others have demonstrated that environmental exposures, including unhealthy diet, environmental toxicants, and stress, can alter the RNA in sperm to mediate intergenerational inheritance."
RNA—or ribonucleic acid—is similar to DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in its structure and conveys genetic information essential for most biological functions.
Genetics are not static; the field of epigenetics investigates ways in which the environment can alter the expression of genes.
When RNA molecules are modified, their functions change in the body, and scientists in this study found that mice who were fed a high-cholesterol diet saw changes in their RNA as a result, that they could then pass on to their offspring via their sperm.
"Men who plan to have children should consider eating a healthy, low-cholesterol diet and reducing their own CVD risk factors," said Zhou.
"These factors appear to affect their sperm in influencing the health of their female offspring. Our study suggests the sperm passes this information to the next generation."
When Zhou and his team fed male mice a high-cholesterol diet, they developed hyperlipidemia: a condition where fats build up in the blood, which can lead to heart disease and stroke.
These male mice then mated with female mice, who were fed a normal, low-cholesterol diet, and when they had babies, they were also fed a normal, low-cholesterol diet.
The female baby mice were found to have a two- to three-fold increase in atherosclerosis: a condition where a fatty, sticky plaque builds up in the arteries, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.
The scientists said they were unsure why only female offspring seemed to be affected with elevated heart disease risk; this would need to be the subject of further investigation.
They hoped that further studies would continue researching the link between the health of fathers and their children.
This study was published on Tuesday, September 10, in the scientific journal JCI Insight. It was led by researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and involved collaboration with scientists from the University of Nevada, Reno, and the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Heart Association (AHA).
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Reference
Hernandez, R., Li, X., Shi, J., Dave, T. R., Zhou, T., Chen, Q., & Zhou, C. (2024). Paternal hypercholesterolemia elicits sex-specific exacerbation of atherosclerosis in offspring. JCI Insight, 9(17). https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.179291
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