Be aware, overweight mothers-to-be! A new research has revealed that sons born to obese women may be less fertile.
The study carried out by a team of researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark has found that overweight women may have sons who are born with sperm of poorer quality, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported today.
“It’s possible that higher levels of the hormone estrogen, associated with being overweight, might harm the development of male foetus reproductive organs,” the daily quoted one of the university researchers as saying.
Though it is well known that obesity can affect a woman’s chances of pregnancy, this is the first time a link has been made between the weight of the mother and the fertility of the next generation.
In fact, the researchers came to the conclusion after tracking the health of over 300 women and their sons in Europe. Although the majority of the women were of normal weight when they became pregnant, 25 had body mass indexes classed as obese.
From tests, the researchers found that the sons of the 25 overweight women tended to have slightly lower concentrations of sperm, as well as fewer mobile sperm. However, the differences were so small that the team couldn’t be sure they’re not down to chance.
“Further studies should be carried out,” the unnamed researcher said.