RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
  Hemochromatosis
  Hyperlipidemia
  Metabolic Syndrome
  Obesity
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Epidemiology Obesity Channel

subscribe to Obesity newsletter
Latest Research : Metabolism : Obesity

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Obese men are more likely to be infertile

Sep 1, 2006 - 6:08:00 PM , Reviewed by: Rashmi Yadav
"The data suggest that a 20-pound increase in men's weight may increase the chance of infertility by about 10 percent."

 
[RxPG] Men with increased body mass index (BMI) were significantly more likely to be infertile than normal-weight men, according to research conducted at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the National Institutes of Health.

"The data suggest that a 20-pound increase in men's weight may increase the chance of infertility by about 10 percent," says Markku Sallmen, lead author on the paper who is now at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. BMI is a number calculated from a person's weight and height. BMI provides a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people and is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems.

The researchers studied couples enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS), a large project that began in 1993 examining factors that impact the health of farmers and their families in agricultural communities.

"Women who are overweight or obese tend to have a more difficult time becoming pregnant than normal-weight women, but whether men who are overweight or obese also have fertility problems had not been studied," says Donna Baird, Ph.D., an NIEHS epidemiologist with the study. The study is published in the September 2006 issue of Epidemiology.

The data on infertility and body mass came from questionnaires that 1,468 farmers and their wives completed when they enrolled in the study. The wives completed a family health questionnaire, which included information about the couple's reproductive history. The men reported their weight and height on a questionnaire about their health. The analysis was limited to couples with a pregnancy attempt during the four years before enrollment, and to women under the age of 40.

The researchers divided the couples into infertile and fertile groups. The infertile couples were those that tried for longer than a year to conceive, and the fertile couples were those that conceived within a year. The majority of men and women were more than 30 years old. Twenty-eight percent of the couples had experienced infertility.

Researchers found that men's BMI was an independent risk factor for infertility. The researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect fertility, including high BMI of the woman, age, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, and solvent and pesticide exposure. After adjustment, there was a general increase in infertility with increased BMI, reaching a nearly 2-fold increase among obese men.

When researchers divided the sample into two equal groups by men's age, they found that men's BMI was a risk factor for infertility in both the older and younger men.

The researchers did not have data on frequency of sexual intercourse, so it is possible that overweight men have less sexual intercourse than their normal weight counterparts and this could influence fertility. However, there have been recent studies looking at semen characteristics that show lower semen quality for overweight and obese men, as well as hormonal differences.

"This study provides data on some additional health problems associated with obesity," said David A. Schwartz, M.D., director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. "Preventing obesity can help improve men's overall health, perhaps even their reproductive health."

The NIEHS unveiled a new strategic plan, "New Frontiers in Environmental Sciences and Human Health," in May aimed at challenging and energizing the scientific community to use environmental health sciences to understand the causes of disease and to improve human health. The plan can be accessed at http://www.niehs.nih.gov/external/plan2006.




Publication: The study is published in the September 2006 issue of Epidemiology.
On the web: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/ 

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Obesity News
Overweight people will stay that way for ever
Your shampoo could be making you fat
This asthma drug can burn your fat
Burning fat can lead to a longer life in worms
New obesity drug, Tesofensine, seems promising
Can slowing down 'fat burning' genes reduce obesity?
Personal counseling helps in maintaining weight loss
Type 2 muscle important in body metabolism and obesity
A Predisposition to Obesity
Obesity in mothers responsible for obese offspring

Subscribe to Obesity Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Additional information about the news article
The ongoing Agricultural Health Study (AHS) is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute, two of the National Institutes of Health, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The AHS (http://www.aghealth.org/) is designed to investigate the effects of environmental, occupational, dietary, and genetic factors on the health of the agricultural population. It is composed of certified pesticide applicators and their spouses in Iowa and North Carolina. The study will provide information that agricultural workers can use in making decisions about their health and the health of their families.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a component of the National Institutes of Health, supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health. For more information on environmental health topics, please visit our website at http://www.niehs.nih.gov/.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

Reference: Sallmen M, Sandler D, Hoppin J, Blair A, Baird D. Reduced Fertility Among Overweight and Obese Men. Epidemiology. Volume 17(5), September 2006. View article abstract http://gateway.ut.ovid.com/gw1/ovidweb.cgi

 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)