Research has shown that a mother’s lifestyle and age affects her offspring, but now science is concluding what common sense has held true— the father can also contribute to the health status of children.

研究已經(jīng)表明，母親的生活方式和年齡會影響其后代。但是現(xiàn)在，科學證實了另一個常識的正確性——父親也會影響孩子的健康狀況。

“We know the nutritional, hormonal and psychological environment provided by the mother permanently alters organ structure, cellular response and gene expression in her offspring,” senior study investigator Joanna Kitlinska, an associate professor in biochemistry, and molecular and cellular biology at Georgetown University Medical Center, said in a news release.

“我們知道，母親懷孕期間的營養(yǎng)、激素和心情會改變孩子的器官結(jié)構(gòu)、細胞反應和基因表達，”美國喬治城大學醫(yī)學中心生物化學與分子細胞生物學副教授、資深研究員Joanna Kitlinska在新聞發(fā)布會上說道。

“But our study shows the same thing to be true with fathers — his lifestyle, and how old he is, can be reflected in molecules that control gene function,” Kitlinska said. “In this way, a father can affect not only his immediate offspring, but future generations as well.”

“但是我們的研究表明父親也會對孩子產(chǎn)生相同的影響——父親的生活方式和年齡會影響控制基因功能的分子，”Kitlinska說。“這樣的話，父親不僅會影響他的下一代，也會對未來的子孫后代有所影響。”

The study, published in the American Journal of Stem Cells, is a review of human and animal evidence published to date on the link between fathers and heritable epigenetic programming.

《美國干細胞雜志》目前發(fā)布的研究回顧了人類和動物中父親與表觀遺傳之間的聯(lián)系。

For example, a newborn can be diagnosed with fatal alcohol syndrome (FASD) even if the mother never consumed alcohol.

比如說，即使母親從來不喝酒，新生兒也可能會患有胎兒酒精綜合癥。

A“Up to 75 percent of children with FASD have biological fathers who are alcoholics, suggesting that preconceptual paternal alcohol consumption negatively impacts their offspring,” Kitlinska said in the news release.

“在患有胎兒酒精綜合癥的孩子中，父親飲酒的比例高達75%。這表明在受孕之前，父親飲酒會對后代產(chǎn)生負面影響，” Kitlinska在新聞發(fā)布會上說。

Researchers also found that advanced paternal age is correlated with elevated risks of schizophrenia, autism and birth defects in his children. Fathers who had a limited diet in pre-adolescence were linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular death in his children and grandchildren.

研究人員還發(fā)現(xiàn)，高齡父親會增加孩子患有精神分裂癥、自閉癥和先天畸形的風險。如果父親在青春期之前限制飲食，那么子孫后代心血管死亡的風險就會大大降低。

“This new field of inherited paternal epigenetics needs to be organized into clinically applicable recommendations and lifestyle alternations,” Kitlinska said in the news release. “And to really understand the epigenetic influences of a child, we need to study the interplay between maternal and paternal effects, as opposed to considering each in isolation.”

“我們建議將父親影響表觀遺傳的新發(fā)現(xiàn)應用于臨床，而父親也應該相應地改變他們的生活方式” Kitlinska在新聞發(fā)布會上說。“為了能真正理解表觀遺傳對孩子的影響，我們需要了解母親和父親對孩子的相互作用，而不能將父母雙方對孩子的影響分開考慮。”