Overweight is having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is common especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary.
In a research carried out by Dr Romain Barres, the author of the study, said: "When a woman is pregnant she should take care of herself.
Part of the research - which was carried out by the University of Copenhagen and published in the journal Cell Metabolism - tested the sperm of six obese men who were undergoing weight-loss surgery.
It looked at the men's sperm before treatment, a week after the surgery and then for a third time a year later.
Dr Barres said changes to the sperm were noticeable in the men a week after the surgery, and also one year on.
He said although the genetic make-up of the sperm cells was likely to remain the same, he noticed "epigenetic changes", which could change the way a gene expresses itself in the body.
Dr Barres admits a definitive scientific conclusion for how these epigenetic changes affect the gene is not yet scientifically known.
However, the sperm cell changes he recorded are linked to the genes known for appetite control and brain development.
The five-year study also recorded similar sperm cell changes when it compared 13 lean men - who all had a BMI of below 30 - with 10 moderately obese men.
'Significant differences'
Dr Barres said his findings have also been corroborated on mice and rats.He goes on to suggest that there are possible evolutionary reasons why information about a father's weight would be valuable to offspring.
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