You are what your father ate, new study say

We are what our father ate before we were born! An international team of researchers has found that a father's diet while growing up can affect his offspring's future health.

Researchers, who specifically looked at the effects of paternal diet in their study, have discovered that a father's lifestyle can be passed down to next generation because it "reprogrammes" his genes.

The novel mice study, carried out by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the University of Texas at Austin, shows that paternal diet influences lipid metabolising genes of his children, according to TheMedGuru.

These insights, coupled with previous human studies, suggest that paternal environmental effects may play a more important role in complex diseases such as diabetes and heart disease than previously believed, the journal Cell reports.

'Knowing what your parents were doing before you were conceived is turning out to be important in determining what disease risk factors you may be carrying,' said chief study investigator Oliver J. Rando, according to a University of Massachusetts statement.

Rando is an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular pharmacology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in the US, Sify reports.