Here is an interesting article on the influence of a father's health in relation to the child. It's kind of a scary read for those of us with known male factor issues. Are we still at an increased risk of having a special needs child? Sometimes I get so wrapped up in having a live baby, I forget that living does not equal healthy.
It is kind of long, but I encourage you to read it. As a teaser: One of the amazing studies shows that a male mouse can be damaged in utero by an environmental contaminate in a way that doesn't damage the genes, but changes which ones are turned off or turned on. This has been shown to then affect that male's offspring to at least 3 generations.
The article is supposed to be protected for subscribers only, but I didn't sign in and I still got it. Please let me know if you can't access the article and I will post it here.
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3 comments:
I'm not surprised by the data about fathers in professions where they're exposed to chemicals - but I wonder whether the data on increased paternal age showing higher incidences of autism, down's et cetera, adjusts for the age of the mother?
Scary stuff.
I am with busted, I am not surprised by the date. Still, I think mom holds more weight because dad gives a minimum of 20 million sperm on conception day...of those how many in general will be abnormal and not even make it to the egg? Yet mom gives (in a normal ovulation) 1 egg.
So odds are more strongly in the favor of mom shouldering the burden still.
A better idea would be instead of "blaming" mom or dad...study a way to correct the issues pre conception regardless of which one celled organism is to "blame"
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