Obesity and Infertility

Comment:

Once again showing another large problem that can come from obesity. Although they mention how gastric bypass surgery can prove a solution in terms of testosterone levels, that they also think that through lifestyle changes the same results are possible is encouraging. 

Posted by James Lamper

Research:

Teenage boys who are considered obese could have lower levels of testosterone by up to 50% than those who are considered a healthy weight. This could lead to decreased fertility once they are older. 

The research carried out at the University of Buffalo in America said the results they found painter a ‘grim message’ for overweight teenage boys. The study looked at obese boys between the ages of 14-20. 

The scientists that carried out this research first put forward their results about lower testosterone levels in 2004 when they were looking at obese males with type 2 diabetes. They had further proof when the carried out the same study again in 2010 though this time the 2,000 men they studied were obese and both diabetic and non-diabetic.

The study’s first author Dr Paresh Dandona said: ‘We were surprised to observe a 50 per cent reduction in testosterone in this paediatric study because these obese males were young and were not diabetic. The implications of our findings are, frankly, horrendous because these boys are potentially impotent and infertile.” 

In the UK 20% of boys aged 11-15 were classed as obese in 2009, which shows how large the scale of the problem could be. Although these results need to be studied with a larger group of participants as Dr Dandona said ‘These findings demonstrate that the effect of obesity is powerful, even in the young, and that lifestyle and nutritional intake starting in childhood have major repercussions throughout all stages of life.”

Although it has been noted that testosterone levels can bounce back after gastric bypass surgery this is not an ideal path. Though it is also thought that through lifestyle changes the levels could also return to normal. He added: ‘The good news is that we know that testosterone levels do return to normal in obese adult males who undergo gastric bypass surgery. 

Original article can be found here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2219480/Fat-teenage-boys-face-increase-risk-infertility-later-life.html