On Feb. 19, 2025, research from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences has discovered that parents who chronically abuse alcohol can pass along adverse effects that increase their children’s susceptibility to cancer — especially in the liver.

Researchers working in the lab of Dr. Michael Golding have previously demonstrated that paternal drinking habits before conception can have a negative effect on fetal development, even up to three months after ceasing to drink. They have also shown that alcohol use from either mothers or fathers can result in early aging symptoms in children, even when drinking at the legal limit. 

According to Golding, the two tissues in the body with the highest number of mitochondria are the brain and liver. “What we found in this study is that if an individual’s parents chronically abused alcohol, this increases their susceptibility to liver cancer, and if they are exposed to a carcinogen, they are more likely to develop tumors than individuals whose parents did not drink,” he said.

In one recent study, Golding’s lab discovered that a father’s drinking habits can affect his sperm up to three months after quitting alcohol use, meaning that it takes much longer than previously thought for the sperm to return to normal.

In another, his lab found that alcohol abuse from either parent can cause children with FASD — especially males — to develop early aging symptoms, including high cholesterol, heart problems, arthritis and early onset dementia. The latest findings were detailed in a recent article published in Aging and Disease.