Too many fatty foods are dangerous not only to men's waistlines, but also to their sperm production.
In research presented at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, scientists found that obese men have more bad-quality sperm than men of normal weight.
"There is a very long list of health hazards from being overweight," said Ghiyath Shayeb, the study's lead researcher at the University of Aberdeen. "Now we can add poor semen quality to the list."
But experts aren't sure if that necessarily means obese men face major difficulties having children.
"If you have a man who isn't fantastically fertile with a normal partner who is fertile, her fertility will compensate," said Dr William Ledger, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Britain's University of Sheffield.
But if both partners are heavy, Ledger said that could be a problem, since obesity is known to decrease women's fertility.
Shayeb and colleagues analyzed the sperm samples of more than 5,000 men in Scotland, and divided the men into groups according to their Body Mass Index. Men who had an optimal BMI (20 to 25) had higher levels of normal functioning sperm than those who were overweight or obese.
Fat men had a 60 percent higher chance of having a low volume of semen, according to Shayeb's research. They also had a 40 percent higher chance of having sperm abnormalities.
（英語點津 Helen 編輯）
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Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts working on various projects in theatre, television, online, radio, print and film. Marc spent three months with the China Daily last year leading the online video news initiative. In December he left for Singapore where he is currently based to work on an online TV science series for kids and some work with MediaCorp Studios, the national broadcaster. Marc returns to chinadaily.com.cn as Senior Editor and Producer for the website’s Olympic media news coverage.
