THE ESSENTIAL
- First-trimester pregnancy loss was higher in women who changed their diet and practiced more physical activity to lose weight.
“Obese and infertile women are advised to lose weight before starting fertility treatment to increase their chances of having a healthy baby. There is little data from randomized trials to support this recommendation” , wrote American researchers in work recently published in the journal PLOS Medicine.
To determine what are the effects of weight loss on the conception of a baby, they carried out their work, in nine American university medical centers, with 379 women suffering from obesity and unexplained infertility. For 16 weeks, half of the participants changed their lifestyle by ingesting meal replacements and medications and increasing their number of sports sessions in order to lose weight. As for the other volunteers, they did more sport but without trying to lose weight. All the women received treatment against infertility which consisted of ovarian stimulation and intrauterine insemination.
Losing weight did not ‘improve fertility’
The members of the first group lost, on average, 7% of their body weight, while the participants of the second group doing only physical exercise kept the same weight. “Unfortunately, the observed weight changes did not improve fertility”said Daniel J. Haisenleder, professor at the Center for Reproduction Research at the University of Virginia (USA) and author of the research, in a statement.
According to the results, there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of the frequency of healthy births. A total of 23 of the 188 volunteers who followed the intensive weight loss program ended up giving birth. Among the 191 women who only increased their physical activity, 29 gave birth to their babies.
Weight loss impacted participants’ metabolic health
The scientists found that participants who changed their diet and exercised more noted a significant decrease in metabolic syndrome, which is characterized by a large waist circumference (due to excess abdominal fat), hypertension, abnormal fasting blood sugar or insulin resistance. “Improved metabolic health does not necessarily translate to improved female fertility,” can we read in the study.