Month: October 2012

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

ASRM: Dietary Glycemic Load Linked to Sperm Concentration

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(HealthDay News) Increased carbohydrate intake and dietary glycemic load and increased intake of full-fat dairy products are associated with worse semen quality, according to two studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, held from Oct. 20 to 24 in San Diego.

Jorge E. Chavarro, M.D., Sc.D., from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues examined the association between carbohydrate intake and semen quality using data from 189 men, aged 18 to 22 years, recruited for the Rochester Young Men’s Study in 2009 to 2010. The researchers found that there was a suggestion of an inverse association for total carbohydrate intake with sperm concentration (P = 0.08 for trend). Dietary glycemic load correlated with lower sperm concentration (P for trend = 0.04). Sperm motility and morphology were unrelated to carbohydrate intake or glycemic load. Read full article.

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Hormone Therapy May Cut Alzheimer’s Risk in Menopausal Women

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CHICAGO (Reuters) – The latest data from a long-running study of hormone therapy suggests women who started taking hormone replacements within five years of menopause were 30 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than women who started years later.

The findings, reported on Wednesday in the journal Neurology, add to evidence suggesting that taking hormone treatments around the time of menopause may be doing more than just helping women cope with hot flashes and night sweats. Read full article.

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US Scientists Successfully Make Embryos with 2 Women, 1 Man

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Scientists in Oregon have created embryos with genes from one man and two women, using a provocative technique that could someday be used to prevent babies from inheriting certain rare incurable diseases.

The researchers at Oregon Health & Sciences University said they are not using the embryos to produce children, and it is not clear when or even if this technique will be put to use. But it has already stirred a debate over its risks and ethics in Britain, where scientists did similar work a few years ago.

The British experiments, reported in 2008, led to headlines about the possibility someday of babies with three parents. But that’s an overstatement. The DNA from the second woman amounts to less than 1 percent of the embryo’s genes, and it isn’t the sort that makes a child look like Mom or Dad. The procedure is simply a way of replacing some defective genes that sabotage the normal workings of cells. Read full article.

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Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Hormone Therapy Not Recommended for Disease Prevention: U.S. Panel

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(Reuters) – The risks of taking hormone therapy to prevent heart disease and osteoporosis in post menopausal women far outweigh the benefits and such treatment is not recommended, according to new guidelines from an influential panel of U.S. health advisers.

The guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, published on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, reaffirm the group’s 2005 guidelines recommending against the treatment.

They apply only to hormone therapy for prevention of chronic disease. They do not apply to the use of hormones to treat symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes or vaginal dryness, or to women under age 50 who have had a hysterectomy.

“Our recommendation is the same as it was for 2005,” said Dr. Kirstin Bibbins-Domingo, a researcher and internist at the University of California San Francisco and a member of the task force. Read full article.

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Court’s Split Decision Provides Little Clarity on Surrogacy

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Unable to conceive, the New Jersey couple did what an increasing number of 21st-century parents have done: they got an egg from an anonymous donor, and made an agreement with another woman to carry the child for them.

And knowing that there are any number of ways that having a child by surrogate can end in heartache, they tried to protect against it. They had the surrogate legally renounce her right to the child, and had a judge pre-emptively order that their names appear on the birth certificate. Read full article.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

How To Avoid The Negative Sexual Effects Of Biking

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Bicycling is a terrific way to get around. It also has many documented health and environmental benefits.

Why doesn’t everyone bike everywhere? Well, some people worry that biking can damage their sexual functions, which is backed up by research. Studies have shown that bicycling can damage your sex life: Causing numbness in the penis, increased risk of erectile dysfunction, anddecreased sensation in woman. Read full article.

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Is There an Age Limit to Male Fertility?

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The world’s oldest new dad, who, at the reported age of 96, just fathered a baby boy in India, says he’s done having kids. But if he wanted to break his record again in a couple years, would biology allow it?

Though sperm production does usually keep up until a man’s dying day, it’s a misconception that “biological clocks” are only of concern to women.

The effects of aging on fertility have been studied far less in men than in women, but research shows that both volume and quality of semen generally fall off as a man gets older.

A 2004 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that, among a sample of couples using in vitro fertilization, every additional year of a man’s age corresponded to an 11-percent increase in the odds that a couple would not achieve a pregnancy. Read full article.

Fertility Clock Blog, My Future Baby Blog

Egg Freezing No Longer Experimental

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Egg freezing is no longer considered “experimental” by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).

Last week the ASRM lifted the “experimental” designation on egg freezing. This decision was based on published studies indicating that frozen eggs worked as well as fresh eggs in young women. Safety data was also reassuring.

While it is promising to see the “experimental” designation lifted, the ASRM still maintains that egg freezing should not be used to counteract reproductive aging – in other words, those women over the age of 35 seeking fertility preservation. The reason for this stance continues to be a lack of published data on birth rates and safety in this group of women.

In 2009 I was invited by the ASRM to participate in a national debate on the “experimental” designation of egg freezing. My conclusions at that time still hold true:  women who wish to counteract reproductive aging  should be given the opportunity to make an informed decision on egg freezing after being counseled on the appropriate risks and alternatives and should seek advice and treatment from an experienced physician who has demonstrated births from eggs of women frozen while in their 30’s.

You can read the in-depth report released by the the ASRM about oocyte cryopreservation here.

by Dr. John Jain