Obese Men Bring Down Pregnancy Success and Father Small Babies

Normally, women are advised to maintain a healthy weight for having a smooth and trouble-free pregnancy and a healthy baby.  But, according to a new study, fathers also have an equal role.

Obesity can have a negative impact on men's sperm quality, scientists warn overweight men who are planning to have kids.

Investigators from the University of Melbourne found the obesity of fathers bringing down the chances of getting pregnant and also leading to smaller babies.

"A lot of men don't understand what contribution they're having, but they need to be healthy before conceiving. Sperm needs to be match fit for the games of life and creating life is the biggest thing that we can do," Professor David Gardner, who conducted the study, said in a news release.

Gardner and colleagues conducted experiments on male mice to prove their theory.  The animals were subjected to in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment to examine the negative impact of paternal obesity on pregnancy success and fetal development.

Investigators found obesity of fathers bringing down the success of getting pregnant by 15 percent.

"We found that development was delayed in the fetuses produced from obese fathers. The rate of embryo implantation into the womb and fetal development decreased in these animals by up to 15 percent," she said.

Apart from that, the paternal obesity will lead to the creation of small placenta and thus negatively affecting the growth of the child.

"Furthermore, placental weight and development was significantly less for embryos derived from the sperm of obese males. These findings indicate that paternal obesity not only negatively affects embryo development, but also impacts on the successful implantation into the womb," Gardner said. "Our study provides more information about the impact of obesity in men and their ability to start a family and the need to shed kilos in preparation to conceive."

Findings are scheduled to be presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Endocrine Society of Australia and the Society for Reproductive Biology 2012.