Dad's High Fat Diet May Cause Diabetes: This Week at AOL Health

A pregnant mother's poor health habits can have negative effects on her child, but until recently, very little attention has been paid to how a father's diet influences his or her development. That's changing. A preliminary study suggests that fathers who eat high-fat diets prior to conception could increase their daughters' diabetes risk.

An Australian study published in the journal Nature suggests that fathers' weight, metabolic health, blood glucose levels and physical fitness levels prior to conception could influence his children's health in the future.

Although the study was performed on rats, the authors suggested that the sperm of diabetic and obese males may be compromised, leading to health problems -- particularly diabetes -- later on in life.

"If it is true in humans, then it may be potentially contributing to what seems to be the amplification of the obesity and diabetes epidemic," Margaret Morris, senior author of the study, told Reuters.

Dr. Peter McGovern, director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, told AOL Health that men who are thinking about having kids should get their diabetes under control which will not only improve the couple's chances for conception, but also impact their baby's health.

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