Simple secret to help men improve their breed

Adequate vitamin D supplementation by the father before deciding to have children will affect the child's ability to grow in height and weight at the age of 5 years.

Researchers at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, have just discovered a direct link between a child's height and weight and the father's vitamin D levels.

Many previous studies have shown that a mother's vitamin D levels before pregnancy have a significant impact on the health of her child after birth, but this is one of the first studies to assess similar effects in men.

Scientists analyzed data from 213 father-child pairs and assessed a number of factors including the biological parents' age, height, weight, calorie intake, and vitamin D levels. They also analyzed the children's sex, age, weight, height, vitamin D levels, calorie intake, and time spent outdoors from conception to age five.

Men who had adequate vitamin D levels as young adults were more likely to have healthy children when they started families. Photo: Daily Mail.

Putting all the data together, the researchers found that a father’s vitamin D levels (before the child was conceived) had a direct impact on the child’s height and weight throughout the first years of life. This link diminished over time as the child reached the age of 10 or older.

The researchers were surprised to find no link between maternal vitamin D intake during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy and children's weight and height at age 5 or 9.

They concluded that adequate vitamin D supplementation by the father before deciding to have children will affect the child's height and weight growth at age 5, completely independent of the mother. This requires further research on the family's diet and lifestyle.

Researchers explain that the father's diet affects the health, quality and function of sperm, making the child born and develop healthier.

Therefore, maternal nutrition may not be the only key factor influencing offspring development and health.

According to Zing