Overview

• A team from the University of Southampton and the University of Bergen analysed epigenetic profiles of 339 individuals aged 7 to 51 to determine how fathers’ adolescent weight gain affects their children.
• They found methylation changes at over 2,000 sites in 1,962 genes linked to fat cell formation and lipid metabolism in offspring of men who were overweight in early teens.
• These DNA methylation shifts were more pronounced in daughters than sons, indicating gender-specific pathways influenced by paternal obesity during puberty.
• Researchers identified early puberty as a critical window when lifestyle factors can reshape sperm epigenetics and influence offspring health outcomes.
• Study authors caution that unchecked teenage obesity could entrench health inequalities and raise future generations’ risks of asthma, obesity, reduced lung function.