This story from today's San Jose Mercury News explores how the health of a prospective father can be just as important as that of his wife in avoiding birth defects for his children.

While women are encouraged to eat healthfully and take vitamins while they're trying to get pregnant, men typically get no such advice, the story says. Yet a recent study from the University of California at Berkeley found that men who ate little folate had more sperm with the wrong number of chromosomes, which could lead to miscarriages and birth defects like Down syndrome, the story says.

So if you want to be a dad, it can't hurt to take a multivitamin and eat leafy greens rich in folate.

Men, have you made any changes to your diet to prepare for a pregnancy?

(Photo of arugula by Bob Fila/Chicago Tribune)