Weight loss doesn't give fertility benefits, says study: Know everything about it

Fertility problems have existed ever since one can think of. The frequency of these problems has increased considerably in the recent times. There are multiple reasons for the current, sudden increase in the trend and lifestyle has been cited widely for the same. It has also been known since a long time now that women who are obese have a hard time conceiving. In order to overcome complications that thwart the process of healthy conception, weight loss through multiple lifestyle changes, especially a regular workout regime is often recommended. A recent study, however, found that simply introducing certain lifestyle changes can help increase the chances of conception, but there are no additional benefits to be observed if these lifestyle changes also facilitate weight loss.

A study that aimed at studying the relationship between weight loss and probability of conception was conducted at nine academic medical centers and involved two groups of women. The first group included several lifestyle changes in their daily routines along with medications and also laid special emphasis on diet related changes. They also ensured increased physical activity in order to maximize weight loss. The other group only increased their physical activity without any weight loss attempts.

Women of the first group ended up losing seven percent of their body weight, on an average, whereas women of the second group showed almost no change in their weight. It was however duly noted that there was no considerable difference in the frequency of healthy births that women from both the groups gave. In fact, the number of women who gave birth was a little more in the ‘only exercise’ group that did not aim at weight loss.

Changes introduced in regular lifestyle and diet helped women lose weight and also helped them with metabolic syndrome, which in itself is a storehouse of multiple other complications such as stroke, diabetes and heart disease. Weight loss had other advantages such as improvement in joint pain and bone related issues but there was no other fertility-related advantage of the same.

After carefully studying the conditions and results of the aforementioned study, experts concluded that even though weight loss-oriented lifestyle changes did help immensely with metabolic health and overall health, weight loss programs did not make women more fertile in anyway. The birth outcomes were also found to be almost identical to those who did not make weight loss-oriented lifestyle changes. It was further noted that infertility trends are at an all-time high and it remains an important problem in the generation which requires more research and development in order to come to any conclusion.