We have known for many years that a woman who is in good health will find it easier to conceive and will also have fewer problems in pregnancy than a woman who does not have a healthy lifestyle. Factors including diet, exercise, weight, alcohol intake and whether or not she smokes will all factor into the ease with which she conception and the smoothness of the pregnancy. It is becoming increasingly apparent, however, that the health and lifestyle choices of men also have a considerable bearing on whether or not a woman will conceive.
A new study presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology by Dr A Ghiyath Shayeb of Aberdeen University suggests that men who are overweight or obese should consider losing weight if they want to father a child. Overweight and obese men are more likely to have a higher proportion of abnormal sperm than men who are of a normal weight.
The researchers from the Scottish university analysed the semen of 5316 men who were attending the Aberdeen Fertility Centre with their partners. Men with a higher body mass index were found to have a smaller volume of semen and a higher percentage of abnormal sperm.
Dr Shayeb was not surprised by the findings, after all women who are overweight or obese have greater difficulty in conceiving than those of a normal weight, why should the same rule not apply to men?
The study focused solely on weight so that other lifestyle issues did not factor into the final result. While Dr Shayeb did not know the reason for this effect he suggested that it may be due to a number of different reasons or a combination of them all: the different levels of hormones to be found in men who are overweight or obese, the overheating of the testicles as a result of the excessive fat or a direct impact of poor lifestyle choices. Whatever the reason is, it is not a particularly surprising result. If a man wants to father a child he needs to be fit and healthy, not merely to conceive but to provide for the child when it comes into the world- an excellent example of Darwin's theory of Natural Selection in practice.