From Your Health Journal…..”A great article from UPI called Father’s Obesity May Affect Child. The UPI health team always has some great articles, so I always try to promote their work Over the past couple of weeks, this blog has discussed in great detail the obesity epidemic acing not only adults, but many children. Heart disease is still the number one killer in the United States, and many people are overweight or obese. Type 2 diabetes is on the rise, and in many cases, affecting children. Now, research is showing how some kids may have to deal with obesity issues before they are even born. The article from UPI points to the fact that we know a pregnant woman’s diet can impact her child before birth, but a father’s weight can also play a important role. DNA contains the genetic information children inherit from their parents – including obesity, but more research is going to be needed on this topic to see just how much a father’s weight impacts their offspring. Nonetheless, a very interesting article. Please visit the UPI web site to view the complete article.”

From the article…..

A pregnant woman’s diet can impact her child even before birth, but so can a father’s, U.S. researchers say.

Dr. Adelheid Soubry and Dr. Cathrine Hoyoof, both of the Newborn Epigenetics Study at Duke University Hospital, said data were collected about parental weight and compared with their newborn’s epigenetic — gene — data.

DNA contains the genetic information children inherit from their parents, but epigenetic imprinting, such as DNA methylation, controls how active these genes are, the researchers explained.

DNA methylation is a biochemical process that alters the expression of genes in cells as they divide and differentiate from embryonic stem cells into specific tissues. The resulting change is normally permanent and unidirectional, preventing one organism from reverting back to a stem cell or converting into another type of tissue.

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