Dear Dads-to-Be:
What’s in your genes? Things like hair color, eye color, bone structure and
height are just a few of the million biological characteristics you pass
down to your children through heredity. The gender of your future children
also lies within your genes. One thing that might surprise you to learn is
that through your genes, you also have the ability to help your future
children avoid obesity and diabetes just by doing something simple for a
few months before you decide to have children – exercise!
Exercise can be moderate or intense: the choice is yours! But the point is
to make a commitment to be physically active right before the mother-to-be
becomes pregnant. Things like taking the stairs instead of an elevator or
escalator, enjoying brisk walks at a steady pace around the neighborhood,
walking dogs, dancing informally and doing simple body stretches at the
office or at home are all beneficial. Every physical thing you do before
the mother’s pregnancy will result in your future children having better
metabolism, controlled weight, less fat mass and a host of other benefits
related to improved metabolic health.
This is the groundbreaking discovery made recently and published in
Diabetes Journal.
Medical Research on Metabolic Health
Generally speaking, maternal health during a
woman’s pregnancy is the most important thing that is reviewed when
discussing the health of a baby. Things like whether a pregnant mother
drank alcohol, consumed drugs or had medical diseases all play strong roles
in determining the health of the baby.
Two groups recently changed the focus to paternal health before a woman becomes pregnant. Medical
researchers from the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University worked
with a team from the Joslin Diabetes Center, affiliated with Harvard
Medical School, and published a medical study. The study made an important
conclusion – if fathers exercise for at least one to six months before the mother becomes pregnant, their
children will reap lifelong benefits of metabolic health.
The Mayo Clinic defines metabolism as a complex biochemical process “by
which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy.” [Endnote 1]
Metabolic health includes a person’s food choices, physical and resting
activities, body composition and other characteristics to help determine
obesity or the possibility of having diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.
Other essential components of metabolic health involve the body’s
regulation of glucose (blood sugar), as well as the body’s ability to
tolerate (process) glucose. (Glucose intolerance results in higher glucose
levels and may lead to diabetes.)
Medical Study and Conclusions
In December 2018, Dr. Kristin I. Stanford, assistant professor of
physiology and cell biology at the Wexner Medical Center, was the lead of
12 researchers who published the aforementioned study in Diabetes Journal. As part of the study, Dr. Stanford and her
colleagues tested two groups of male mice by giving them high-fat diets and
keeping one group sedentary while the other group was allowed to exercise
on a wheel.
Thereafter, the researchers tested the baby mice offspring of both sets of
male mice. The conclusion of seeing the baby mice from the sedentary group
born with impaired glucose tolerance levels was not surprising. The shock
came when they tested the baby mice from the group of mice that exercised.
The researchers learned that, “paternal exercise suppresse[d] the effects
of … [the] high-fat diet on [the baby mice], reversing the observed
impairment in glucose tolerance.” [Endnote 2]
In other words, despite the fact that both groups of male mice ate high-fat
diets, the presence of even a nominal amount of exercise canceled out the
negative effects of the poor diet, resulting in improvements in metabolic
health of their baby mice offspring.
According to Dr. Stanford, improved metabolic health offers lifelong
benefits including “lower body weight, increased insulin sensitivity and
decreased fat mass.” [Endnote 3]
Comparing Mice to Men
Dr. Stanford is the first to admit that a medical study on mice is not
exactly like a study that is done on men. In fact, she notes a similar
study done on men would have been tricky, as the ratios would be vastly
different. In the medical study done using mice, Dr. Stanford tested male
mice for three weeks before the female mice became pregnant. She also
tested the baby mice offspring of both sets of male mice for a period of
one year to determine their metabolic health.
If the study had been done on humans, it is believed the period to test
fathers-to-be before a woman becomes pregnant would have been up to six
months beforehand, while the period to test the children offspring would
likely have been 45 to 55 years, therefore making a comparable study on
humans time-consuming and complex to administer.
Despite the fact that the study involved mice and the ratios are not quite
the same, Dr. Stanford believes there was enough compelling medical
evidence from the study to apply the findings to men.
Bottom Line
The results of this published study on mice offer clear indicators that
“paternal intervention affects offspring,” says Dr. Stanford. Dads-to-be
who exercise before a woman becomes pregnant are intervening in the
metabolic health of their offspring in positive ways, lowering the chance
that the children will have an unhealthy body mass index, glucose
intolerance or other similar metabolic health problems.
When fathers exercise before the mothers become pregnant, they are
“providing a protective effect, an advantage. [All physical activities mean
a] child is less likely to become obese,” says Dr. Stanford. In other
words, dads-to-be who plan to have children should exercise for a few
months before the mother becomes pregnant. It will help your future
children!
Endnotes
- [Endnote 1]: mayoclinic.org
- [Endnote 2]: diabetesjournals.org
- [Endnote 3]: osuwmc.multimedia-newsroom.com
