Although health professionals often encourage obese women to lose weight before starting fertility treatment, this would not actually increase their chances of having a child.
To improve the fertility of obese or overweight people, it is often recommended that they lose between 5 and 10% of their body mass in order to maximize their chances of success in the event of a medically assisted procreation (PMA) journey.
However, this weight loss would have little effect on their chances of having a healthy child. This is according to a national study conducted by the Penn State College of Medicine. Posted in PLOS Medicineshe reveals that obese women with unexplained infertility who lost weight before starting infertility treatment are no more likely to conceive than those who did not lose weight before starting the treatment
A follow-up of 300 women for 16 weeks
Led by the National Institutes of Health, this study involved more than 300 women with obesity and unexplained infertility to assess whether targeted weight loss before fertility treatments could increase their chances of giving birth. to a healthy baby. Participants had to have a body mass index greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2 with regular ovulation and at least one year of unexplained infertility.
In a first group, the women followed a 16-week protocol of increased physical activity and targeted weight loss through meal replacements and medication. In the second group, the women simply increased their physical activity without guided weight loss. All then began three cycles of infertility treatment consisting of ovarian stimulation and intrauterine insemination.
If at the end of the study period, the members of the first group lost an average of 7% of their body weight unlike the other participants, the researchers did not find any significant difference between the two groups with regard to the number of healthy pregnancies and births.
No evidence that weight loss increases chances of conceiving
According to the researchers, the findings add to a growing body of evidence that healthy births are no more likely to occur in obese women who lose weight before starting fertility treatment than in those who have not lost weight before conception.
“Although this differs from current clinical standards of care, there is simply not enough evidence to recommend preconception weight loss in women with obesity and unexplained infertility”says Dr. Richard Legro, who led the study.
Although this does not increase an obese woman’s chance of delivering a healthy baby, the researchers noted that weight loss may still have other health benefits for these women, such as decrease in their blood pressure.
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