Researchers say that the results of a study have shown that a diet with high cholesterol changes sperm in men and leads to a threefold increase in the risk of heart disease in one’s female offspring. It is not yet clear why this effect occurs only in female offspring.
According to RCO News Agency, A study by researchers at the University of California Riverside (California Riverside) shows that men who have an unhealthy and high-cholesterol diet when they become fathers can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in their daughters.
This study, published in the journal JCI Insight, is the first to show this result only in female children, and researchers do not know why only female children are affected.
Cardiovascular diseases, which are a group of disorders that affect the heart and blood vessels, are the leading cause of death in the world. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
In the United States, nearly 703,000 people will die of heart disease in 2022, which is equivale to one in five deaths in the coury.
Cholesterol can alter sperm motility
Changcheng Zhou, professor of biomedical sciences at the University of California Riverside School of Medicine and lead author of the study, said: “It used to be thought that only the sperm genome played a role during fertilization. However, rece studies by us and others have shown that exposure to environmeal conditions, including unhealthy diet, environmeal toxins, and stress, can alter spermatozoa to mediate iergenerational inheritance.
Ribonucleic acid or RNA (RNA) is found in all living cells, has structural similarities with DNA, and is vital for most biological functions of living organisms and viruses.
Men who are planning to have children should eat a healthy, low-cholesterol diet and reduce their risk factors for cardiovascular disease, Zhou says.
He added: It seems that these factors affect the sperm and then the health of female children. Our study shows that sperm transmit this information to the next generation.
arteriosclerosis
This study focused on atherosclerosis, which is a chronic inflammatory disease that is the main cause of cardiovascular disease.
In atherosclerosis, plaque, a sticky substance made up of cholesterol, fat, and other blood substances, builds up in the walls of the arteries.
When plaque hardens, it narrows arteries, restricts blood flow to the body, and reduces oxygen delivery to vital organ tissues.
Sperm coains many small non-coding arane molecules that are importa for gene regulation and cellular processes. When they change, their function also changes significaly in various biological processes.
The researchers found that small arane molecules in the sperm of mice fed a high-cholesterol diet underwe changes in response to dietary exposure.
They also found that modified small arane molecules can affect early gene expression in mouse embryonic stem cells.
It is unclear why only female children are affected
Zhou explained that most studies have focused on mothers’ effects on children’s health, while fathers’ effects on their children’s health have been largely ignored.
He added: Examining the influence of pares on the developme of chronic diseases in their children is challenging because these tests are generally time-consuming and require more resources and careful planning.
Currely, researchers don’t know why only female children get cardiovascular disease due to father’s high cholesterol.
In their experimes, Zhou and his team fed genetically engineered male mice a high-cholesterol diet that caused their blood lipids to rise. Hyperlipidemia is a disorder that, if not treated, can lead to heart disease and stroke.
Finally, it was observed that this high cholesterol led to a 2-3 times increase in atherosclerosis in female children.
Zhu says: Our study helps to understand the cause of chronic diseases caused by exposure of pares to differe conditions. We hope that our findings will stimulate research io the influence of fathers on offspring cardiovascular health.
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