The prevalence of obesity and overweight is on the increase and has become an epidemic worldwide. Obesity has detrimental impact on all systems of both men and women.
According to a public health physician, Dr Okezie Emenike, being over weight can cause infertility. For women who are under weight too, the physician also said there were at risk of infertility.
Emenike noted that it was important to understand that both underweight and overweight women and men suffered from a higher incidence of infertility.
He added that severe obesity in men had been shown to alter fertility often due to imbalances in hormone regulation tied to sperm production.
Studies have shown that obesity also significantly affects a woman’s capacity to carry on a term pregnancy and also decreases the rates of successful pregnancy in natural conception cycles.
Already, based on evidence, obesity leads to common pregnancy complications like pregnancy induced high blood pressure called preeclampsia or in severe cases eclampsia.
The physician stated that in many cases, overweight or underweight women would have hormonal disorders, which could cause them to ovulate infrequently or not at all.
“Being underweight or overweight can have negative effects on a man’s sperm, and it can kill a couple’s sex life because weight problems can affect a man’s libido and performance.
“Generally, underweight patients can be encouraged to gain more weight, and this alone often increases their fertility significantly or makes hormonal therapy more successful.
“Many studies have shown a clear and consistent decrease in infertility with increasing female weight.
“Overweight patients who undergo significant weight loss may ovulate without the need for fertility medications,” he said.
He advised patients to maintain an ideal body weight, saying it resulted in the best outcome for fertility therapy.