{"id":97292,"date":"2015-03-07T11:16:01","date_gmt":"2015-03-07T11:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=97292"},"modified":"2015-03-07T11:16:01","modified_gmt":"2015-03-07T11:16:01","slug":"slimming-boosts-male-fertility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/03\/slimming-boosts-male-fertility\/","title":{"rendered":"Slimming ‘boosts male fertility’"},"content":{"rendered":"
Two approaches to boosting obese men’s sperm have been presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society.<\/p>\n
The first suggested that obese men who lost weight were more likely get their partners pregnant.<\/p>\n
The second found that a cancer drug helped some infertile men have children.<\/p>\n
Experts said the approaches were interesting alternatives to IVF and were opening up “real possibilities” for men.<\/p>\n
Weight loss is already widely advised for women struggling to conceive and obesity has long been suspected as a factor in male infertility.<\/p>\n
A team at the University of Sherbrooke in Canada say they have conducted the first study to help men lose weight and see if it improved the chances of conception.<\/p>\n
‘Thrilled’<\/strong><\/p>\n In 65 couples who had been referred to a fertility clinic, the men were sent to weekly group sessions on nutrition and physical activity for a year.<\/p>\n The study showed the men who conceived were those who had lost the most weight.<\/p>\n The research group said they were “thrilled” by the results.<\/p>\n One of the researchers, Dr Jean-Patrice Baillargeon, said: “This is the first prospective study suggesting that male partners who improve their weight also increase the odds for the couple to conceive.”<\/p>\n He believes obesity could directly affect the sperm count, but may also affect the quality of sperm by subtly altering the DNA.<\/p>\n And he added that both men and women should be encouraged to lose weight if they were trying for a baby.<\/p>\n Chemical<\/strong><\/p>\n The second study focused on the chemical letrozole, which has been used in breast cancer and as a fertility treatment in women.<\/p>\n The excess fat in men can alter the balance of sex hormones, which in turn affects sperm count.<\/p>\n Letrozole can stop testosterone being broken down into oestrogen.<\/p>\n Trials took place on 12 men who had developed hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism, a form of infertility, as a result of their obesity<\/p>\n Two were able to have babies after being infertile for at least three years.<\/p>\n Dr Lena Salgado, from the University of Montreal, said: “Letrozole is a very attractive fertility treatment with obesity-related hypogonadism.”<\/p>\n