Tag: infertility and obesity

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Infertility in Obese Women May be Due to Damaged Egg, Brigham Study Finds

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Obesity has long been associated with infertility as well as lower success rates with in vitro fertilization, and now researchers think they understand why: Obese women are more likely to have abnormalities in their eggs that make them impossible to fertilize.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital infertility researchers examined nearly 300 eggs that failed to fertilize during IVF in both severely obese women and those with a normal body weight. They found that severely obese women were far more likely to have abnormally arranged chromosomes within their eggs compared with women who weren’t overweight, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal Human Reproduction. Read full article.

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Dads Should Get Fit Before Reproducing to Assist with Fetal Development

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A father’s obesity negatively impacts sperm, which results in smaller fetuses, poor pregnancy success and decreased placental development, according to a team of experts at the University of Melbourne’s Department of Zoology.

The study urges men to get ‘match fit’ before getting their women pregnant to help with fetal development. Scientists are now encouraging men to shape up, even though health risks of obesity and pregnancy are usually focused on overweight moms.

According to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), 75% of Australian adult males are overweight or obese, which significantly exceeds the global average rate of 48%.

The research, led by Professor David Gardner, Dr. Natalie Hannan and Ph.D. student Natalie Binder, will be presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Endocrine Society of Australia and the Society for Reproductive Biology 2012, starting August 26 to 29 on the Gold Coast. Read full article.

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Childhood Obesity Could be Related to Growing Problems with Infertility

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A dramatic increase in childhood obesity in recent decades may have impacts that go beyond the usual health concerns – it could be disrupting the timing of puberty and ultimately lead to a diminished ability to reproduce, especially in females.

A body of research suggests that obesity could be related to growing problems with infertility, scientists said in a recent review, in addition to a host of other physical and psycho-social concerns. The analysis was published in Frontiers in Endocrinology.

Human bodies may be scrambling to adjust to a problem that is fairly new. For thousands of years of evolution, poor nutrition or starvation were a greater concern, rather than an overabundance of food.

“The issue of so many humans being obese is very recent in evolutionary terms, and since nutritional status is important to reproduction, metabolic syndromes caused by obesity may profoundly affect reproductive capacity,” said Patrick Chappell, an assistant professor of veterinary medicine at Oregon State University and an author of the recent report.

“Either extreme of the spectrum, anorexia or obesity, can be associated with reproduction problems,” he said.

Researchers are still learning more about the overall impact of obesity on the beginning of puberty and effects on the liver, pancreas and other endocrine glands, Chappell said. While humans show natural variations in pubertal progression, the signals that control this timing are unclear.

Read full article.

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More Evidence that Obesity may Lower IVF Success

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The odds of having a baby via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) may be lower for obese women than their thinner counterparts, two new studies find.

The studies, reported in the journal Fertility and Sterility, add to evidence suggesting that heavy women have a lesser chance of success with IVF — where a woman’s eggs are fertilized in a lab dish then implanted in her uterus.

Research shows that obese women may be less fertile than their thinner peers. But the evidence has been mixed on whether extra pounds can affect a woman’s odds of having a baby with IVF.

In the new studies, researchers at two different Massachusetts fertility centers found that overweight women were less likely to have a baby after IVF.

In one, the birth rate among both overweight and obese women was 23 percent, versus 42 percent among women at the lower end of the normal-weight range.

In the other study, the odds of success were lower only for obese women, and not those who were less overweight.

Of 477 women who were moderately obese, 22 percent had a baby. That compared with 30 percent of normal-weight women.

And the chances of success dipped with the severity of a woman’s obesity. Among the most obese women — about 100 pounds or more overweight — 15 percent had a baby.

The lead researcher on that study said there are still questions about the role of a woman’s weight in IVF success.

In some past studies, researchers have found that normal-weight and obese women have similar chances of having a baby, said Dr. Vasiliki A. Moragianni, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

But most of those studies were much smaller than this one, he said in an email.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/06/21/more-evidence-obesity-may-lower-ivf-success/#ixzz1yTM5bByc