Men around the world are suffering from a decline in semen quality, often referred to as a complete fertility crisis. In a new clinical study recently published in human reproduction, researchers at the University of Copenhagen and havedev hospital in Denmark show that if obese men lose weight and maintain the effect, their semen quality will be improved**
Signe Torekov and Romain barres of the Novo Nordisk Foundation's basic metabolism research center led the study. This new finding may be good news for fertility because previous studies have shown that the more sperm, the faster pregnancy.
Torekov said that people have long known that obesity is related to the decline of semen quality. Previous studies have also shown a link between weight loss and improved semen quality, but these studies have too few participants or too little weight loss to draw conclusions.
"This is the first long-term randomized study. We have shown that semen quality in obese men improves with continued weight loss." Torekov said.
The study is part of a larger weight loss study published in the New England Journal of medicine in May 2021. A total of 215 obese Danes participated, of which 56 men provided semen samples to investigate whether semen quality is related to weight loss. The age is between 18 and 65 years old, and the body mass index is between 32 and 43.
All participants first followed an 8-week low calorie diet to lose weight. Participants were then randomly divided into four groups, two of which received placebo and two of which received obesity treatment.
Of the two placebo groups, one group had to follow an exercise program with at least 150 minutes of moderate physical exercise or 75 minutes of high-intensity training per week, or both. The other group did not change their usual sports level. The two groups treated with obesity drugs were divided into exercise plan group and no exercise plan group in the same way.
Since eight weeks of weight loss, these men have lost an average of 16.5kg, increased sperm concentration by 50% and increased sperm count by 40%. In the 52 week continuous trial, men who maintained their weight also maintained the improved semen quality. The number of sperm was twice that before weight loss, and the improved semen quality of men who regained their weight was lost.
"We were surprised that semen quality improved so much with weight loss. Since 18% of people in Denmark are obese, this new knowledge may have a different impact," the authors said