Generally, experts tell women to maintain healthy lifestyle habits to boost the probability of conception and protect the health of a future baby. But a latest study has suggested that men looking forward to become fathers must also consider cleaning up their diet and increase physical activity for better health outcomes of a baby, even prior to conception.

Published on Thursday, in Cell Metabolism, the study carried out a comparison between biomarkers in the sperm of obese men and men, who were fit. The results have offered an indication into why kids of obese fathers have more chances to be obese themselves. They have suggested that non-genetic factors such as diet can be passed down via sperm.

There were 10 obese men and 13 lean men, who participated in the research. The researchers discovered that the sperm cells in obese and lean men had distinct biomarkers in gene areas linked to appetite control.

They wrote that the differences were due to epigenetics- alterations in gene expression that are not linked to underlying DNA and are instead come via environmental factors like diet and exercise.

In a different but linked study, the researchers observed men, who went through bariatric surgery. They recognized nearly 5,000 DNA changes to the men’s sperm instantly after the completion of the surgery and even more a year later.

The researchers wrote, “These findings indicate the epigenetic landscape of human sperm is dynamic and vulnerable to environmental changes”.