It’s usually women who are on the receiving end of the ‘tick-tock’ panic when it comes to the best age to start a family, but now a new study has suggested that older dads will have less attractive children than younger ones.
The research showed that with age, sperm-producing cells do not copy a man's DNA as effectively, leading to genetic mutations.
Martin Fielder, an anthropologist at Vienna University, said, “Every 16 years the mutation rate doubles. Other researchers found 25 mutations per sperm in a 20-year-old, but at age 40 it is 65 mutations. By 56, it doubles again.”
He added, "'The effect is very visible. Someone born to a father of 22 is already 5%-10% more attractive than a 40-year-old father and the difference grows with the age gap.”
But the study, which was published in the journal Nature, showed that women pass on up to 15 mutations to their baby no matter what age they are.
Among celebrity older dads are Simon Cowell, 54 and comedian Frank Skinner whose first child was born in 2012 when he was 55.
