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The conditions within a person’s home, family and community affect their ability to stay healthy. Scientists studying these are trying to understand whether has a stronger effect on a person’s ability to fight disease.

I am a studying the ways that and lifelong health. Although researchers have long recognized that a negatively affects his children’s , it hasn’t been clear if paternal drinking has any lasting biological effects on his offspring’s physical health.

My lab’s recently published research shows that chronic alcohol use from both parents has an enduring effect on the next generation by and become more susceptible to disease.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

According to the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Institutes of Health, have an alcohol use disorder. causes , including liver disease, heart problems, declining cognitive function and .

Parents may pass these health problems on to their children. refer to a wide range of alcohol-related that affect as many as .

Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders experience an early onset of , including type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Cardiovascular disease first appears for people with these disorders, while the rest of the population is affected typically in their 40s and 50s. Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are also more likely and have than children without these conditions.

However, it has been unclear whether these health problems are because of life circumstances – people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders have high rates of , which cause stress that makes them more – or if their parents’ substance use directly causes lasting negative effects to their health. In other words, can a parent’s alcohol abuse before conception directly influence their offspring’s physical health and lifespan?

Mom and dad drinking

In our study, my colleagues and I used a mouse model to measure the effects that alcohol use by mom, dad or both parents around the time of conception have on their offspring aging and chronic disease. The mice chose when and how much alcohol to drink.

We found that paternal and maternal drinking both cause harmful changes to their . Mitochondria – often called the battery of the cell – . Like a cellphone battery, mitochondria deteriorate over time and cause cells to lose their ability to repair damage and control metabolism.

Our experiments in mice show that dad’s drinking causes a defect in mitochondrial function that first emerges and , causing the offspring to age faster. For example, paternal alcohol exposure caused a twofold increase in age-related liver disease, suggesting that parental alcohol use – particularly by the father – could have significant implications on aging and age-related diseases.

Importantly, we found that when both parents drank, the effects on their offspring were consumed alcohol. For example, we observed a threefold increase in age-related liver scarring when both parents consumed alcohol.

Treating fetal alcohol syndrome

People with fetal alcohol syndrome , including problems with hand-eye coordination and difficulties with memory and attention.

for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, like using visual and auditory materials instead of print, can provide additional structure to help facilitate learning.

Although my team and I examined chronic alcohol exposure, we do not know if also causes mitochondrial problems. We also don’t know if these same effects emerge in people who haven’t been diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders but whose parents drank heavily. Whether paternal drinking influences human embryonic development is still unclear, although are beginning to suggest it does.

The next step is to explore if interventions that focus on mitochondrial health, and , can improve health outcomes for people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Michael Golding receives funding through a Medical Research Grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation and a research grant from the NIH through the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).