Whilst it is established that paternal overnutrition has a negative effect on offspring health, the impact of undernutrition of the father is unknown. We determined whether paternal diet restriction influences offspring health and whether these effects can be reversed by dietary vitamin and antioxidant supplementation.

C57BL6 male mice (n=30) were fed either an ad libitum control diet (CD), a diet restricted to 70% of ad libitum CD intake by weight (DR), or a DR supplemented with vitamins and antioxidants (DR+AOx). At age 16 weeks, mice were mated with C57BL6 ad libitum CD females to produce offspring. Offspring body weight was measured at age 5, 7, 10, 14, and 21 days and then weekly post-weaning, where they were given free access to standard chow. At age 4 weeks, offspring body composition was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.

At post-partum day 5, male and female offspring sired by a DR father were lighter (2.50±0.08g and 2.56±0.14g, respectively) compared to males and females from a CD father (2.80±0.06g and 2.66±0.07g, respectively; p<0.05), which persisted throughout the pre-weaning period. Post-weaning, males and females exhibited catch up growth with body weights similar by 8 and 10 weeks, respectively. Body weight of DR+AOx male and female offspring at 5 days post-partum (2.77±0.08g and 2.72±0.10g, respectively) was restored to equal CD offspring weight and significantly heavier than DR offspring (p<0.05). Furthermore, DR male offspring had significantly lower bone mass and lean mass at 4 weeks of age, which was restored by supplementation of the diet restricted fathers with vitamins and antioxidants.

These findings show that diet restriction in fathers prior to conception leads to reduced offspring body weight with diminished bone mass and lean mass. These impaired growth outcomes, however, can be significantly improved through paternal dietary vitamin and antioxidant supplementation.