How Male Alcohol Consumption Can Shape Offspring Development

In this episode of Daily Value, we look at how paternal alcohol consumption before conception could influence offspring health, longevity, and even accelerate aging. Referencing studies from Andrology (PMID: 38044754) and Aging and Disease (PMID: 39122451), we examine how sperm RNA modifications and mitochondrial dysfunction may persist long after alcohol cessation—potentially programming offspring for metabolic disorders, reduced NAD+ levels, and faster cellular aging.

Discussion Points:

• Sperm Epigenetics: what rodent data tells us baout alcohol exposure altering small RNAs in sperm, disrupting gene regulation in the developing embryo.
• Mitochondrial Dysfunction: newer rodent data showing lower SIRT1/SIRT3 levels, and lower NAD+ in offspring whose parents were exposed to alcohol.
• Practical Takeaways: How long should alcohol cessation be before conception could help restore sperm quality and reduce the risk of accelerated aging in children for people who drink regularly.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39122451/ 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38044754/ 

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:00

We know that what a mother consumes during pregnancy can have direct and indirect impacts on fetal outcomes, and although the same direct impacts can't be said for what the father consumes, the indirect impacts may weigh just as heavily at times. We're looking into if and how maternal and paternal alcohol consumption before conception could influence how quickly your children age. Now I'll start out by saying that most of the recent work we're going to go over today is research conducted in rodents, because it's obviously not ethical to test interventions like these in people. So while these studies may or may not be translatable to humans, they do shed some light on how our behaviors as parents or potential parents could be affecting our offspring at the molecular level and how that may possibly be affecting their outcomes later in life.

Speaker 0: 1:01

For years, most of the conversations around alcohol and pregnancy have focused on the mother's role. We've all heard about fetal alcohol syndrome and the dangers of drinking during pregnancy, but what if I told you that a father's drinking habits before conception might also have lasting consequences, and not just in terms of fertility, but in shaping how fast your child ages and even how healthy they are later in life? New research is shedding light on a hidden consequence of alcohol use in males and its ability to alter sperm health in ways that can persist long enough after drinking stops. Now there was one particular study published out of Texas A&M in the journal Andrology in late 2023, and the results of this study had the authors suggesting that men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving. What the authors found was that it takes much longer than previously believed longer than one month actually for the effects of moderate alcohol consumption to leave a father's sperm. Now again, this study was conducted using an animal model and extrapolating to human outcomes, while using approximate human equivalent dosing for alcohol consumption in mice. It turns out that if you are a regular alcohol consumer, when you stop drinking, the liver is still experiencing similar stress responses from the drinking time period. This, in theory, sends a signal throughout the rest of the male body that even impacts the reproductive system, essentially communicating to the body that hey, this environment is very stressful and we need to help program our children to be able to adapt to that environment. Because of this, sperm seems to develop an adaptation that we would term maladaptation, in other words, an adaptation that results in unfavorable consequences. In this case, adaptations that a male sperm make might increase the risk of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Speaker 0: 2:58

The adaptations I'm referring to are changes to sperm RNA. When we think about how sperm affects fetal outcomes, we usually picture DNA being passed from one generation to the next, but sperm do much more than just carry genetic material. They also carry epigenetic information, which acts like a biological instruction manual, if you will, influencing how genes are turned on or off. This means that a father's lifestyle, including diet, stress levels and alcohol consumption, can influence these instructions and impact his child's development. Changes to sperm RNA can affect an egg and developing fetus, because sperm carry epigenetic instructions, not just DNA. These small RNA molecules help regulate early embryo development, influencing which genes are turned on or off. If sperm RNA is altered due to factors like alcohol exposure, stress or poor diet, it can disrupt gene expression in the fertilized egg, potentially affecting fetal growth, metabolism and long-term health. These altered signals can persist throughout development, increasing the risk of growth abnormalities, metabolic disorders or accelerated aging, as we see in this study and one other that I'll touch on shortly.

Speaker 0: 4:13

The concept that paternal alcohol consumption as a stressor can cause changes to male physiology that affect a fetus is not a new concept. It involves the idea that environmental factors or stressors, like the stress imposed from alcohol consumption, can cause changes in an organism that are then passed down to subsequent generations. This is called the transgenerational effect. Another study, this one published just last year found that alcohol-exposed fathers again these are rodents had higher mitochondrial DNA copy numbers in their sperm, which is a sign of mitochondrial stress and dysfunction. Another interesting finding in this research is how alcohol affected NAD+, a molecule needed for energy production and DNA repair. Nad+ fuels, sirtuins and PARP enzymes. These are groups of proteins that help regulate metabolism, inflammation and DNA repair. When the researchers analyzed alcohol-exposed sperm, they found lower levels of sirtuin 1 and sirtuin 3, increased oxidative stress, which contributes to cellular damage and faster aging. This suggests that the offspring of alcohol-exposed fathers. Senescence is a state where cells stop functioning as usual and can no longer divide, which is a hallmark of aging and age-related diseases. Next, these offspring had altered glucose metabolism, which means they might be at a higher risk for insulin-resistant diabetes and metabolic syndromes later in life. Now we all know that alcohol can be a driving factor behind a lot of births in general.

Speaker 0: 6:08

I don't think this research is suggesting that we're automatically doing our future offspring a disservice by having a drink or two here and there. What I do think it suggests is more obvious that our lifestyle factors impact us at the cellular level and can influence the health and development of our offspring at the cellular level, and can influence the health and development of our offspring at the cellular level and beyond. So if we are planning on conceiving, what might be some wise choices to make? Well, current research suggests that one month of alcohol cessation might not be enough, since sperm take around 72 days to fully mature. A longer period perhaps three, maybe even six months could give sperm time to recover from alcohol-induced stress. The model the researchers used in the first study I mentioned to induce this kind of stress suggests that having three to four drinks regularly can induce these negative changes in male sperm.

Speaker 0: 7:01

You might ask what does drinking regularly look like? And fair enough. The CDC states that regular drinking is 4 to 14 drinks per week for men. As a practical guideline, falling underneath this limit and then ceasing alcohol consumption three months prior to trying to conceive seems like a reasonable recommendation. So if fatherhood is in your future, now might be the time to rethink how your lifestyle choices today could affect your child's health decades from now. Supporting mitochondrial function. Boosting NAD levels and avoiding alcohol for an extended period before conception could make a lasting impact not just on your health, but on the next generation. On the flip side, a drink or two here and there is not likely to have any major impacts, so long as you have your basics covered, that being adequate macro and micronutrient intake, proper sleep, regular exercise and so on. That's it for today's episode of Daily Value. If you found this discussion interesting, please share it with someone who needs to hear it, and don't forget to subscribe for episodes every Monday, wednesday and Friday. Until next time. Stay sharp, stay informed, stay healthy.