Fathers’ Gut Health May Influence Physical and Mental Health in Offspring, Study Finds

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Men contemplating fatherhood may need to consider assessing their gut health after researchers found a link between a father’s gut microbiota and the health of their offspring.

Using mice, researchers at The Florey examined how depleted gut microbiota in male mice influences offspring’s physical and mental health.

The researchers gave male mice oral antibiotics to deplete their gut microbiota and then examined their effects.

What was discovered was that oral antibiotics depleted the gut microbiota of male mice, which caused changes to their sperm. This, in turn, caused changes to parts of the genetic material, known as non-coding RNAs or piRNA. Non-coding RNAs are integral to the regulation of offspring development, body weight, and behaviour.

After mating with female mice, the resultant offspring were found to have reduced body weight and a shortened colon. In contrast, female offspring showed significant changes in affective behaviours, such as anxiety and depressive-like behaviours.

However, the researchers noted that female offspring did not display altered cognitive outcomes.

“We’re used to hearing that women need to look after their physical health for the sake of their baby,” Professor Anthony Hannan said in a press release.

“Our discoveries in mice, and emerging findings in humans, suggest that it’s important that men do so too.”

Significance of Research for Men

While the female gut microbiota’s influence on offspring development is well established, the researchers noted that the role of the male gut microbiota remains largely unknown.

“Overall, the present study provides the first evidence for a role of the paternal gut microbiota in the modulation of offspring physiology and behaviour,” the study states.

“These findings may have broader implications for other animal species with comparable gut microbiota, intergenerational epigenetics and developmental biology, including humans.”

Associate professor Tim Moss from The Healthy Male told The Epoch Times that such studies are encouraging as they show that attention to the role of fathers and how it contributes to the health of offspring is starting to garner attention.

“Studies like these are significant simply because they are being performed,” Moss said.

“As the researchers mention in their article, studies of fathers’ influence on their offspring are far fewer than studies of the effects of mothers. This is as true for studies in humans as it is for experimental studies in mice and other species.”

“When it comes to reproduction, males are often overlooked.”

Moss said that very few men, and women, eat according to Australian dietary guidelines. For example, only 2 percent of Australian males aged 19-50 eat the recommended number of servings of vegetables each day.

Moreover, alterations to the gut microbiome have been linked to different diseases in men, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression.

“These are among the greatest causes of poor health in Australian men,” Moss said.

Additionally, alcohol consumption among Aussie males shows a concerning trend, with more than 1 in 5 drinking alcohol at a level that puts their health at risk.

“Drinking alcohol has effects on the gut microbiome, and studies in humans show that high levels of alcohol consumption have unhealthy effects,” he said.

“We know that a healthy diet is critical for everyone’s health.

“Eating a diverse range of healthy foods is one of the ways of making sure the gut microbiota is healthy.”