“Obese women who suffer from infertility are advised to lose weight before embarking on a journey of conception (with treatment) to increase their chances of getting pregnant and having a healthy baby, while thelack of evidence from randomized trials” to support this advice, introduce American researchers, in a study published in the journal PLOS Medicine. From this observation, they studied several hundred women in this situation to shed more light on the question.
379 obese women were included in the trial, which was held between July 2015 and September 2019 (last date of examinations in these patients). The duration of the treatments lasted only 16 weeks, during which these women have all been treated for their infertility (ovarian stimulation and insemination), and divided into two “lifestyle” groups. The first part (191 women) was content to do more physical exercise than usual, while the other (188 women) undertook a diet (drug treatment and diet modification) to lose weight. weight in addition to sport.
Weight loss, better metabolic health, but no less infertility
The volunteers who participated in the “diet”, lost an average of 7% of their original weight, 31 people stopped the study before the end. Their health was improved according to the researchers’ medical examinations, but what were the results on their fertility? Anyaccording to them.
The trial showed that losing weight did not help these women get pregnant or give birth to a healthy child. In the first group (where 40 participants dropped out of the trial), which did not seek to lose weight and maintained its original weight, 29 women had a child. In the group of those who lost weight, only 23 were able to give birth to a baby. In summary, 15% of women had a child in the “exercise” group, versus 12% in the “diet” group.
The conclusion of the researchers is as follows: doing more sport can be beneficial for getting pregnant in women with obesity and infertility. On the other hand, the fact of losing weight is not a determining factor.
Source: Effects of preconception lifestyle intervention in infertile women with obesity: The FIT-PLESE randomized controlled trial, PLOS MedicineJanuary 2022.
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