Male Obesity and Reproductive Health

Abstract

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, and all this evidence suggests that the situation is likely to get worse ahead. A combination of an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and unfavorable diet in the western world has resulted in increasing numbers of overweight and obese children and adults. According to the WHO, approximately 1.6 billion adults were classed as being overweight and 400 million adults were obese in 2005. Also gaining attention is the reported decline in semen quality and male reproductive potential over the past 50 years. Surprisingly, such decreases have not been reported in regions where obesity is less prevalent. Since this decline in fertility has occurred in parallel with increasing rates of obesity, the possibility that obesity is a cause of male infertility and reduced fecundity should be addressed. Effects of obesity on female fertility have been studied extensively. Weight loss in anovulatory women restores fertility and increases the likelihood of ovulation and conception. In contrast to the extensive knowledge of the effects of obesity on female fertility, male factor infertility as a result of obesity has been overlooked, even after the discovery of a threefold increase in the incidence of obesity in patients with male factor infertility, demanding the concern over m ale obesity with respect to infertility.