(02-09-10) Obesity linked to poor sperm quality

by Jonathan Benson, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Young men now have a new incentive to stay lean and fit.
According to a new report in the journal Fertility and Sterility, overweight
young men have poorer sperm quality than their peers of a more healthy weight
do.

The findings reveal that not only do overweight men have lower sperm counts,
but their sperm are less mobile and less able to travel in the right direction
as opposed to simply swimming aimlessly. In other words, overweight men between
the ages of 20 and 30 may have a much harder time becoming fathers than leaner,
fitter men will.

Researchers say it is unclear whether or not the difference in sperm quality
is significant enough to affect overall fertility, but they believe that it
could, and that further research is necessary.

For the study, Dr. Uwe Paasch and his team from the University of Leipzig in
Germany analyzed more than 2,000 men who had visited fertility clinics between
1999 and 2005 to test their sperm quality. None of these men had any known
fertility problems at the time.

Based upon the analysis, overweight men from this group had lower sperm counts
than normal-sized men, but generally all the men were still in the "normal"
range. However, this range is quite large, spanning between 20 and 150 million
sperm per millimeter of semen, which may affect fertility.

Other studies suggest that the reason why overweight men have poorer sperm
quality is due to imbalanced hormone levels caused by excess fat. Obese men can
have levels of estrogen that are too high, while their testosterone levels are
below normal levels. So it is important for men to maintain healthy body fat
levels.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS...

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