Daughters whose fathers indulge in foods that raise their blood cholesterol levels are at a higher risk of developing heart disease, a new study suggests, suggesting that a father’s unhealthy diet could affect the child’s health by altering the ribonucleic acid (RNA) in his sperm.
A study led by researchers at the University of California, Riverside, found that feeding only male mice a high-cholesterol diet increased the risk of heart disease in their female offspring.
Heart disease, better known as cardiovascular disease, is an umbrella term for a number of conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels and is the number one cause of death worldwide.
Previous studies have shown that a pregnant woman’s diet can affect her child’s risk of heart disease. This study looked into the connection between the father’s diet and the child’s health. This study, published on the 10th (local time) in the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) journal ‘JCI Insight’, proved for the first time that this result only applies to daughters.
“Previously, it was thought that sperm only contributed to the genome during fertilization. However, we and others have recently shown that environmental exposures, such as unhealthy diet, environmental toxins, and stress, can alter sperm RNA to mediate intergenerational inheritance,” said lead author Changcheng Zhou, a professor of biomedical sciences.
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is similar in structure to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and carries genetic information essential for most biological functions.
“Men planning to have children are advised to eat healthy, low-cholesterol foods and reduce their risk factors for cardiovascular disease. These factors appear to affect sperm, which in turn affects the health of their children. Our study suggests that sperm may pass this information on to the next generation,” said Professor Zhou.
The study focused on atherosclerosis, a major cause of cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis is often caused by the buildup of plaques made of cholesterol, fats, and other substances in the walls of arteries. As the plaques harden, the arteries narrow, restricting blood flow and reducing oxygen supply to vital organs. Sperm is rich in small noncoding RNA molecules that are important for gene regulation and many cellular processes. When these RNAs are altered, their functions in a variety of biological processes are significantly altered.
When researchers fed male mice a high-cholesterol diet, they developed hyperlipidemia, a condition in which fat builds up on the walls of blood vessels, which can lead to heart disease and stroke. Foods high in cholesterol include fast food such as tripe, shrimp, pork belly, and hamburgers, sugary foods such as soda, and fried foods such as French fries.
The male mice were mated with female mice on a normal low-cholesterol diet, and the female mice were kept on the low-cholesterol diet until they gave birth. The offspring were also fed the low-cholesterol diet. Despite this, the female offspring were found to have a two- to three-fold increased risk of atherosclerosis, a condition in which fatty, sticky plaque builds up in the arteries, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. The male offspring, on the other hand, showed no increased risk factors.
The scientists are not clear why only females were at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and say further investigation is needed.
Reporter Park Hae-sik, Donga.com [email protected]
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2024-09-13 08:40:43