4 ms·

In the “paternal exercise” case the trait isn’t the habit of exercising, it’s the metabolic changes of exercise that are (apparently) conferred to both father a

• jibal 10mo ago
  You're completely missing the point that I explicitly stated. The trait that is purportedly being transmitted is metabolic changes that confer some advantage, but that's not what's being measured in the father, "exercise" is--not a word was said about fathers having better metabolic health, just that they "exercise". Which is reason to be skeptical of the claim.
  • shwaj 10mo ago
    Fair enough. It would be a clearer result (more “apples to apples”) if the same trait was directly measured “on both sides”. Thanks for restating. Edit: typo
  • pegasus 10mo ago
    Have you considered that checking for that specifically might not be actually needed? After all, the correlation between exercise and metabolic health is well established.
    • shwaj 10mo ago
      That was my original thought, however if you want to quantify an effect it would be ideal to measure the same trait in both parent and offspring. I assume that the reason that this was done (I didn’t read the papers) is because this is a retrospective study, where the participants self-report on the exercise level of their fathers, rather than a longitudinal study which could measure the fathers’ metabolic state fitness at time of conception. Thus, although there is a plausible link, I now agree with the parent post that this is sufficient reason to take the study with a grain of salt (given well known academic incentives to produce positive results, etc).