Obesity is becoming a common issue in India with a recent study published in the Lancet saying that India is just behind US and China in this global hazard list of top 10 countries with the highest number of obese people. And with obesity and being overweight comes the other devils like diabetes, heart disease and infertility.
According to ICMR bulletin, it is estimated that globally between 60-80 million couples suffer from infertility every year, of which probably between 15- 20 million are in India alone. So what are the reasons behind the growing cases of infertility, lets take a close look.
1. The first and foremost effect of obesity is that if affects ovulation by disrupting the reproductive hormones.
Obesity is associated with elevated levels of insulin, which leads to a reduction in the synthesis of sex hormone-binding globulins (SHBG). Low levels of SHBG cause a surge in the level of free sex steroids such as testosterone.
The hormone oestrogen is produced mostly by the ovaries and in less important amounts by the adrenal glands and fat cells. Hence, if a woman has excessive body fat, there will be an oversupply of oestrogen. This signals the brain to stop stimulating the development of follicles — sac like structures needed for the eggs to mature and develop — and, thus, ovulation does not occur.
2. It leads to insulin resistance.
This is a major risk factor on the road to diabetes — but it also affects your fertility and can create abnormal menstrual cycles. Insulin resistance can lead to anovulation, in which your body does not produce eggs properly.
3. It affects getting pregnant.
Obesity makes it more challenging to become pregnant, no matter whether you’re using natural means or by reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). It also increases your risk for a miscarriage. This issue may be caused by the hormonal issues or because of your body producing poor quality eggs.
4. Increase chances of having PCOS.
This endocrine condition is characterized by insulin resistance, which causes the ovaries to produce an excessive amount of testosterone. This has started to become a common issue in females these days, especially the younger generation due to their eating habits and sedentary lifestyle. And as explained earlier excessive testosterone inhibits ovulation, making it harder for the women to conceive.
5. It can cause other pregnancy-related problems.
Risks associated with obesity in pregnancy include miscarriage, hypertension, pre-eclampsia , gestational diabetes, infection, blood clotting, need for induction of labor, Caesarean birth and stillbirth.
Women who are overweight or obese have less chance of getting pregnant overall. They are also more likely than women of healthy weight to take more than a year to get pregnant.
The risk of pre-eclampsia doubles in overweight women and triples in obese women. Overweight women have twice the risk of gestational (pregnancy-related) diabetes and obese women eight times the risk, compared with women of healthy weight.
The best way to find out whether you are healthy or not is to find out your BMI. You can do that here simply.
For women the Optimal weight range is when BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9kg/m2, Overweight if BMI is above 24.9kg/m2 and Obese if BMI is above 30kg/m2. Check your BMI today and decide to live a healthy lifestyle. The only roadblock on your way is you, yourself.