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How exercise in parents can improve the metabolic and cardiovascular health of their offspring through epigenetic mechanisms.

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

Parental exercise & offspring metabolic health: exercise before and during pregnancy improves glucose tolerance and reduces fat gain in offspring.
Paternal effects via sperm: moderate voluntary wheel running alters small non-coding RNAs, especially tRNA fragments, in sperm and enhances glucose clearance, with stronger benefits in female offspring.
Maternal exercise mechanisms: benefits arise from in utero environment, placental changes, and breast milk composition rather than major oocyte alterations.
Human milk oligosaccharides: exercise increases 3’-sialyllactose in milk, linked to better offspring microbiome and metabolic outcomes.
Sex-biased & intergenerational effects: maternal exercise impacts male offspring metabolism more; effects can transmit to F2 generation depending on the transmitting parent’s sex.

ABOUT THE GUEST: Kristin Stanford, PhD is an associate professor in the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, where she serves as associate director of the Diabetes and Metabolism Research Center. Her lab investigates molecular mechanisms by which exercise enhances metabolic and cardiovascular health, with a focus on intergenerational effects.

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M&M 145: Epigenetics, Endocrine Disruptors, Obesogens & Obesity, Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics | Bruce Blumberg

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How Parental Exercise Effects Offspring Health | Kristin Stanford | 289

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How Parental Exercise Effects Offspring Health | Kristin Stanford | 289