Obesity and infertility

We counsel patients on total body health and optimal health for pregnancy. While there is natural variation in body size, some obese females may have weight-related reasons for difficulty conceiving. Research indicates that even when only the female partner has weight-related infertility, the male partner’s weight and dietary habits matter greatly.

Male partners of infertile obese females may increase the odds of conceiving a child by improving their own weight and dietary habits, preliminary results from a pilot study suggest.

Men in couples who conceived were significantly more likely to lose more weight and eat more breakfasts or 5 or more daily fruits and vegetables than men in couples who did not conceive. Their weight loss was not related to the women’s weight loss.

Thus, male partner dietary habits had an impact on fertility even when it was the female partner whose factors contributed to infertility and even when weight did not change. Thus, male lifestyle factors may garner increasing attention in fertility research and couple’s counseling. So when obesity may be the cause for female infertility, a male partner focused on his own health can still have a positive impact on pregnancy outcomes.