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# Obese Fathers More Likely to Have Obese Children
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/obesity_1212110753/
- Published: 2011-12-12T20:52:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:01:12.000Z
- Description: Adelaide researchers report that sperm from overweight male mice appears to carry a molecular signal passing obesity to offspring, more often and more severely in females. They call the transfer biological rather than genetic, and say fitness makes a father less likely to pass it on.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Disease, Health News, #vivvo-import

BY Maria Cendejas and editing by Stacey Sexton

Australian researchers have discovered that the sperm of overweight fathers appears to transfer a molecular signal that causes their offspring to inherit obesity, according to nzherald.

The study suggests that the obesity in the offspring of overweight fathers occurs more frequently and is more severe in females than males.

The work of Robinson Institute Research Center for Reproductive Health at the University of Adelaide has concentrated on microRNA expression on mice sperm.

The study involves two groups, one of mice fed a high-fat diet and another fed a healthy diet. Researchers then screen the microRNA to profile the sperm.

The researchers will soon recruit people into the study and introduce the research at the World Congress on Human Reproduction in Melbourne.

The transfer of the obesity factor is a biological process, not a genetic one. A father who loses weight and gets fit is less likely to pass on obesity to his children, according to the research.