Both paternal exercise and healthy diet are required to protect offspring from high fat diet‐induced obesity and type 2 diabetes risk in mice

Objective Paternal eating and physical activity behaviors peri‐conception may influence offspring obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk. A recent study showed that paternal exercise increased offspring susceptibility to obesity when the offspring consumed a high fat (HF) diet. However, it is not yet known how paternal HF diet and paternal exercise interact to alter offspring adiposity and T2D risk. Method Three week old male C57BL/6J mice were fed a control normal fat (NF) diet (16% fat) or a HF diet (45% fat) and provided voluntary wheel running exercise or cage activity (sedentary) for 3 months prior to mating with NF diet‐fed dams. After weaning, male offspring were fed NF or HF diet for 3 months. Results Compared to offspring born from cage‐active fathers fed a NF diet, offspring of cage‐active fathers fed a HF diet had decreased body weights at postnatal days 5, 12, and 21 as well as increased insulin resistance at 5 months of age. Paternal HF diet‐induced changes in offspring body weights early in post‐natal life and insulin resistance in adulthood were abolished when fathers exercised. In addition, paternal exercise prevented postnatal HF diet‐induced body and adipose tissue weight increases in offspring at 5 months of age, but only when fathers were fed NF diets. Conclusion These findings suggest that paternal exercise reduces risk for adiposity and insulin resistance in offspring exposed to a HF diet, but only when fathers consumed a NF diet and exercised. A paternal NF diet alone, without paternal exercise, did not protect HF diet‐induced body and adipose tissue weight gains in offspring. Future studies will determine physiological mechanisms underlying beneficial effects of combined exercise and diet through paternal lineage. Support or Funding Information This work was supported by USDA Agricultural Research Service Project #3062‐51000‐052‐00D.