Father's Alcohol Intake Can Affect Fetal Development, According to Mice Study

A mice study revealed that offsprings of fathers exposed to alcohol have several placenta-related difficulties, as published in the FASEB Journal.

According to Kara Thomas, a graduate student in veterinary physiology and pharmacology and the study's lead author, the research noted placenta difficulties, including increased fetal growth restriction, enlarged placenta, and decreased placental efficiency on mice.

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The link on alcohol, placenta, and fetal growth restriction

Futurity.org cited that the placenta provides nutrients to the fetus; hence fetal restriction can be attributed to the less efficient placenta, Thomas said. For mice with paternal alcohol exposure, Thomas noted their study revealed that placentas become overgrown in compensation for their inefficiency in delivering nutrients to the fetus.

She also said that fetal overgrowth frequently happens in male offspring, but it would vary significantly based on the mother. For female offspring, however, fetal overgrowth was less frequent.

According to Michael Golding, an associate professor in the Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences' department of veterinary physiology and pharmacology, the information is passed on from the father, the mother's genetics, and the sex of the offspring also plays a role.

Golding added that although men can pass things on to their offspring beyond genetics, the mother's epigenetic factors may interpret these factors differently and change the way the placenta behaves.

The researchers noted that the results do not indicate how alcohol consumption before conception affects fetal development, but it continues to raise that the matter needs to be studied further.

Golding, who spent years studying the relationship of the father's role on drugs and alcohol intake on fetal development, hopes that the recent study results will change the stigma surrounding the development of congenital disabilities and look into the prenatal behavior of the fathers. He said that the information from the sperm is not just genetic, but it includes an "epigenetic code," which is highly susceptible to environmental exposure. The congenital disabilities might "not be the mother's fault, but the father's or both, equally," per Futurity.

Father's alcohol habits vs. birth defects in newborns

Years ago, a study also linked the father's behavior with the congenital disabilities of their newborns.

 In 2019, Healthline featured a report citing an observational study in 529,090 couples; 35 percent showed an increase in newborns' chance of birth defects if the father drank alcohol six months before conception.

Congenital disabilities included limb abnormalities, congenital heart disease, digestive tract anomalies, clefts, gastroschisis, and neural tube defects. The study also links increased risks of sperm abnormalities, leading to defects like congenital heart disease, limb anomalies, cleft, and digestive tract anomalies.

The study, first published in JAMA Pediatrics, said that it is unclear why paternal drinking may lead to congenital disabilities. Still, early evidence suggested that alcohol may alter the shape, size, and motility of the sperm. Alcohol may also change the DNA that is passed down to the children.

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