Dad Being Overweight Lowers Pregnancy Chances

It isn’t just that overweight women may have trouble getting pregnant; the weight of the dad also has bearing on the chances of the woman to get pregnant.

overweight dadIn a study that examined retrospectively, those couples who had used assisted reproductive technology, it was found that an overweight male partner may lower the chances of pregnancy.

The study, conducted by Dr. Zaher Merhi of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center in New York City and colleagues, found that each 5 unit increase in the BMI of the male corresponded to a 28 % decrease in the likelihood of a pregnancy.

The researchers were not able to offer a proper explanation for this phenomenon, since no differences in quality and concentration of the sperm were detected. Also there was no difference noted in the quality of three day embryo of the overweight male partner and the normal weight male partner.

A possible cause for this could be something that is not evident at the embryo stage – an increase in sperm DNA fragmentation that has been seen to be present in obese men.

As a result of this and other research it may become necessary to start counseling men to lose weight if they are planning to undergo in vitro fertilization and want to make sure that their chances are the best that they can be.

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