How being obese is causing infertility in men

barasa velma

November 9, 2017 12:03 PM

Being overweight or obese can greatly affect a man's fertility.

Obese men are more likely to be infertile; this is according to a worrying study published in the Human Reproduction journal.

According to the study, a greater body mass index (BMI) was linked to low sperm count and poor semen quality.

Using BMI, someone who is overweight will record a BMI of above 25 while someone who is obese will record a BMI of above 30.

How the research was conducted

The researchers collected data from 14 previous studies where they compared the BMI and sperm count of more than 10,000 men.

Findings of the study revealed that men of normal weight recorded a 24 percent low sperm count while 2.6 percent did not have any viable sperm.

Of the overweight men 25.6 percent recorded a low sperm count and 4.7 percent had no viable sperm while for those that were obese, 32.4 percent recorded a low sperm count and 6.9 percent had no viable sperm.

Causes of low sperm count in overweight men

One of the causes for low sperm count in obese people is as a result of excessive temperatures in the scrotum which greatly increases in overweight people.

In addition to that “excessive conversion of androgens into oestrogens in redundant adipose tissue” could lead to sexual imbalance thus resulting to hypogonadism – this is when sex glands produce little or no sex hormones.