Canada: Father's diet before conception may play role in health of offspring

Article here. Excerpt:

'It's well-known that what a mother eats before and during pregnancy can affect fetal development, but research now suggests that a father's diet prior to conception may also play a critical role in a newborn's health.
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But the way that a father's diet can influence the health and development of offspring has received little attention, said Sarah Kimmins, a specialist in reproductive biology at McGill University who led a study looking at the effects of paternal folate levels.
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In a study of mice published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers found that a low-folate diet in males was linked to an increased rate of birth defects among their pups, compared to the rate among pups whose fathers were fed a folate-sufficient diet.

"When we looked at the offspring, when we looked at the fetuses, we were really quite shocked that we saw the birth defects," Kimmins said Tuesday from Montreal.

The birth anomalies, which occurred across the litters sired by folate-deficient mice, included spinal malformations, cranio-facial defects such as a shortened jaw, underdeveloped digits and club feet.'