Healthy male partners could help obese women get pregnant: study
Obese women having trouble conceiving increase their odds if their male partners trim down to a healthy weight and maintain a good diet, according to a pilot study in Canada.
“We were thrilled to observe a significant relationship between some dietary changes and weight loss in men with the occurrence of a conception, when we compared the men in couples who conceived with those who did not,” says lead author Matea Belan of the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec.
Weight loss is known to improve the reproductive health of obese women, yet it’s still unclear as to exactly how men’s lifestyle modification could improve their partners’ chances of conceiving.
In the study, the research team recruited 65 male partners from infertile couples based on their weight, fat mass percentage and waist circumference-they were of an average age of 33.
The group’s lifestyle habits were reported as being worse than the general Canadian male population between the ages of 18 and 39.
They were likely to be obese themselves, were less active, ate fewer fruits and vegetables than most and ate breakfast less often.
Half of them were randomly selected for a lifestyle intervention involving sessions with a kinesiologist, a nutritionist and weekly group sessions with workshops on nutrition, exercise and psychology.
Those who conceived had lost weight, ate breakfast and upped their vegetable intake more than those who did not.
“We were mostly surprised that the weight loss in men was independent of their spouse’s weight loss, suggesting that the relationship between the conception and the weight loss in men was independent of the weight loss of their spouse,” says Belan.
Belan says her study is the first that suggests the male partners’ lifestyle can make a difference and recommends including male partners in lifestyle interventions oriented towards improving the couple’s fertility.
The study was presented on Thursday, March 5 at ENDO 2015, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Diego, and Belan and her team plan to expand it in 2016 to fertility clinics across Canada.
