jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:sec jats:titleBackground</jats:title> jats:pThe paternal diet affects lipid metabolism in offspring for at least two generations through nutritional programming. However, we do not know how this is propagated to the offspring.</jats:p> </jats:sec>jats:sec jats:titleObjectives</jats:title> jats:pWe tested the hypothesis that the changes in lipid metabolism that are driven by paternal diet are propagated through spermatozoa and not seminal plasma.</jats:p> </jats:sec>jats:sec jats:titleMethods</jats:title> jats:pWe applied an updated, purpose-built computational network analysis tool to characterise control of lipid metabolism systemically (Lipid Traffic Analysis v2.3) on a known mouse model of paternal nutritional programming.</jats:p> </jats:sec>jats:sec jats:titleResults</jats:title> jats:pThe analysis showed that the two possible routes for programming effects, the sperm (genes) and seminal plasma (influence on the uterine environment), both have a distinct effect on the offspring’s lipid metabolism. Further, the programming effects in offspring suggest that changes in lipid distribution are more important than alterations in lipid biosynthesis.</jats:p> </jats:sec>jats:sec jats:titleConclusions</jats:title> jats:pThese results show how the uterine environment and genes both affect lipid metabolism in offspring, enhancing our understanding of the link between parental diet and metabolism in offspring.</jats:p> </jats:sec>