The Laurence A. Jacobs M.D. Blog

Every day I see patients who are experiencing infertility that is caused or exacerbated by excess body fat. And I am often asked why being overweight matters and why a patient should try to lose weight before trying to get pregnant or undergo a fertility treatment such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Here’s why: There are several adverse effects associated with excess body fat that inhibit conception and a healthy pregnancy.

• Overweight women often have hormonal imbalances and abnormal endocrine function, which results in a disruption of regular ovulation. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is one specific type of endocrine condition that is generally associated with obesity.
• Insulin resistance (a condition that can develop into type 2 diabetes) is a common problem for overweight or PCOS patients and further interferes with ovulation.

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Recently, I did a series of videos for FertilityAuthority. Here is the one on "Does Losing Weight Increase Fertility?" in which I describe what I tell patients about losing weight before they get pregnant. You can check the video out on YouTube or on FertilityAuthority or below.         Read more

Much research has found that lifestyle can affect fertility, and now investigators are finding more proof  that diet matters when trying to conceive.

The latest research conducted in mice has found that calorie-restricted diets for longevity also may have the benefit of increasing fertility. In "Prevention of maternal aging-associated oocyte aneuploidy and meiotic spindle defects in mice by dietary and genetic strategies," published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital tested the effects of caloric restriction (a diet that had been shown to slow the ravages of age in mice) on the quality of mature eggs produced by aging mice. They found that 12-month-old female mice who were on a 40 percent calorie-restricted diet from the age of 3.5 months produced eggs that were of significantly better quality than mice who were fed a normal diet.

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