People with fat grandads at risk of being obese… even if parents are a healthy weight

PEOPLE with obese grandads are more likely to be fat, even if their parents are a healthy weight, a study shows.

Researchers found changes in the sperm of overweight males threaten the health of their children and grandchildren.

These future generations are at increased risk of high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar levels, abnormal cholesterol and excess body fat.

The symptoms – collectively known as metabolic disorders – are strongly associated with heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

And strikingly, the grandchildren remained at risk even when their own parents tried to break the chain by adopting a healthy lifestyle, the study found.

Scientists at Victor Chang Institute and Garvan Institute of Medical Research, in Sydney, Australia, carried out the study on male mice.

Associate Professor Catherine Suter, from the Victor Chang Institute, believes the discovery could have immediate consequences for the public’s health.

She said: “A baby’s health has long been considered the mother’s responsibility as soon as she falls pregnant.

“But little attention has been paid to how a father’s health might impact his unborn child.

“Now, we’ve found powerful evidence, in a mouse model, that dad’s nutrition and metabolic health can influence his sons, and even his grandsons.

“We looked at the effect of dad’s obesity across three generations.

“At first his offspring appeared to be in good metabolic health.

“But when they consumed a high-fat, high sugar, junk food diet, all the sons reacted dramatically and within just a few weeks they developed fatty liver disease and pre-diabetic symptoms, such as elevated glucose and insulin in the bloodstream.”

The researchers were amazed to find that the grandsons of the obese mice were also predisposed to metabolic disorders, just as their fathers were.

Importantly, this predisposition was transmitted to the grandsons even if their fathers ate well and were metabolically well at the time of conception.

Professor Suter said: “We were shocked when we saw the results, which were absolutely black and white.

“The grandchildren are at significant risk of getting very sick if they eat a ‘junk food diet’ - even when their father eats well and is healthy.

“The effects of the diet on offspring are dramatic, even when they eat poorly for just for a short time, all because their grandfather was obese.”

Professor Mark Febbraio, from Garvan, urged people to consider the lasting legacy of a poor diet on future generations.