- Losing 9.5lbs in six months can double chances of giving birth naturally
- Nearly six out of ten British women are classed as overweight or obese
- Obesity damages reproductive health in women, according to expert
Colin Fernandez Science Correspondent For The Daily Mail
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Losing a small amount of weight can allow women to conceive naturally, new research has revealed.
British women are increasingly prone to being overweight or obese – with nearly six out of ten falling into one of these categories.
A study of women with fertility problems found losing 9.5lbs (4.4lbs) on average in six months through better diet and exercise doubled the chance of getting pregnant naturally.
One in four of the group who lost weight became pregnant compared to just over one in ten of those who did not undergo the fitness program, scientists found
The study, presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology annual meeting, in Helsinki, involved 577 women who suffered from fertility problems and were overweight or obese.
Half were given advice on how to lose weight through diet and exercise with the goal of losing five per cent of their weight.
The other half were not placed on the intervention programme.
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One in four of the group who lost weight became pregnant compared to just over one in ten (12.6 per cent) of those who did not undergo the fitness program. The women, had a body mass index of between 29 (classed as overweight) and 35 (very obese).
The study, carried out by Dr Anne Van Oers at the University Medical Centre Groningen, in the Netherlands said that the greatest impact of losing weight was in women whose periods are occasional or have stopped ‘anovulatory’ women.
Dr Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said obesity is a huge problem in the UK and damages a woman’s reproductive health
She said: ‘Our finding that lifestyle intervention in obese women more often leads to natural conception, specifically anovulatory women, should be used in their counselling before fertility treatment and could reasonably be offered as first line treatment for anovulation in obese women.’
Stuart Lavery, consultant gynaecologist at Hammersmith Hospital, who was not involved in the study said: ‘Sometimes the changes in BMI do not have to be enormous and that’s quite reassuring for a lot of people because it is really difficult to actually go out there and lose the weight.’
Dr Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said: ‘Obesity is a massive problem in the UK and has major ramifications throughout life but particularly on reproductive health.
‘We also know losing weight may have a beneficial effect on the long-term health of the baby conceived.’
He added: ‘Essentially, if you are overweight, you want to restrict calories, maybe by 500 calories a day to 1,500 calories diet.
‘Daily exercise, so cardiovascular exercise – 30 to 45 minutes a day – and if you can achieve that you would expect to lose one or two pounds a week and that is sustainable.’
Professor Nick Macklon, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Southampton, said: ‘This is an important study, in that it does throw an emphasis on the importance of pre-conceptional care, of which losing weight in obese women is just one.
‘You should not just go on a huge crash diet and reduce your calories to almost zero.’
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