Does obesity affect sperm quality in men?

Through investigation, it was found that if a man is too fat, it will have a great impact on the quality of sperm. Too much fat will lead to a decline in the function of the male reproductive system and a weakening of the male testicular spermatogenesis. Therefore, in daily life, you must control your weight. For men, if you are fat, it will not only affect your fertility, but also have a great impact on the health of the cardiovascular system and the digestive system.

Does obesity affect sperm quality in men?

The fatter the man, the fewer sperm he has. The results showed that, excluding other factors that may affect sperm quality such as smoking, drinking, drug abuse and age, men in the normal weight group had a higher level of normal sperm, while men in the overweight and obese group not only had less semen volume and sperm count than the normal group, but their chances of having abnormal sperm also increased significantly, confirming that obesity does affect sperm quantity and quality.

Too much fat weakens sperm production

Why does obesity affect the quantity and quality of men's sperm? Shen Changli pointed out that the medical community currently tends to believe that obesity has three major "crimes" in interfering with fertility.

First of all, the increased body fat in obese men can convert more androgens into estrogen, resulting in higher estrogen levels, more than 1 times higher than that of ordinary men. The latter in turn inhibits the secretion of pituitary gonadotropin, thereby reducing testosterone secretion, which may hinder sperm production and sperm quality.

Secondly, obese men have more fat, so their body temperature is higher than normal people. The normal human body temperature is around 37°C, while the optimal temperature for sperm production is 2°C lower than normal. Obese men have more fat, so their body temperature is higher than normal people, which will directly affect the spermatogenic ability of the testicles and cause a decrease in sperm production. Even if the amount of sperm produced is not affected, the quality of the sperm produced will be affected.

Again, obesity can cause diabetes or latent diabetes, and higher levels of sugar in the blood can damage the DNA in sperm and thus affect male fertility. According to Shen Changli, when Cohen Maridis' team at Queen's University Belfast treated 40 male diabetic patients who were not overweight, they found that due to diabetes, the patients had higher levels of sugar in their blood, which damaged the DNA in their sperm.

Researchers found that men with diabetes were twice as likely to have sperm damage as men without diabetes. Changes in sperm DNA can lead to lower pregnancy rates, a higher risk of miscarriage, and can cause some serious birth defects.

Obesity also has a significant impact on female fertility. Obesity can increase women's risk of developing metabolic syndrome, breast cancer, and gynecological tumors. If obesity is related to endocrine disorders, women are also prone to ovulation disorders, making it difficult for them to conceive successfully.