Today, 500,000 adults are obese and nearly 1 billion people are overweight around the world. In the last 15 years, the rate of obesity in women over the age of 20 has increased by 40%. The situation is similar in our country. 30% of our women are obese. Obesity significantly reduces fertility in both sexes. This condition is called infertility. While people living in big cities get married later, the negative effects of city life, diet, habits such as smoking and alcohol affect fertility negatively, obesity worsens the situation for both genders.
Studies show that slightly obese women are 26% less likely to conceive than normal weight women. Severely overweight women are 40% less likely to conceive than normal weight women.
You may have heard that there is a disease called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), especially in young women. Did you know that the vast majority (60%) of women with polycystic ovaries are obese or overweight? The most obvious finding in women with polycystic ovaries, most of whom have weight problems, is menstrual irregularity. If you are overweight and have menstrual irregularity, you should be examined for polycystic ovary syndrome.
So how does obesity affect fertility?
You know, adipose tissue works as a major endocrine organ in the body. This adipose tissue can secrete substances that negatively affect the functioning of female hormones (estrogen, progesterone). Female hormones can change in the adipose tissue. With the situation we call androgen increase, the male hormone testosterone is secreted more in these women. For such reasons, the monthly hormonal rhythm in women is disrupted and the ovaries cannot perform the normal ovulation ability, which we call ovulation. The situation worsens as the severity of obesity increases.
Obesity also negatively affects fertility in men. In obese men, some of the testosterone is converted into a female hormone in the adipose tissue. This can cause breast enlargement called gynecomastia in men. In obese men, due to hormonal imbalance and other factors, sperm quality decreases and sperm movements are negatively affected. For this and many other reasons, infertility is more common in obese men than in normal-weight men.
There is a very close relationship between polycystic ovary syndrome and obesity. When women with menstrual irregularity due to PCOS lose weight somehow, their periods become regular.
Today, the most effective treatment of obesity is bariatric surgery. Gastric reduction surgery is the most frequently used method among obesity surgeries. Obstetricians recommend bariatric surgery before IVF to couples who want to have a child but are unable to do so. Obese women, who want to have a child but cannot achieve this, get pregnant much more easily after getting rid of their excess weight with stomach reduction surgery. It is necessary not to stay for 1-1.5 years after bariatric surgery. In women who become pregnant after this period is completed, the pregnancy process is much healthier for both mother and baby. Studies also support this
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