Men who were overweight as children are likely at higher risk for infertility, a recent study suggests.
To investigate the impact of obesity-related metabolic disorders on testicular growth, scientists at the University of Catania in Sicily looked at health records from 268 boys aged 2 to 18 years old. The boys had all been referred to the institution for weight control. Among them were 62 boys who had a normal weight, 54 who were overweight, 79 who were obese, and 73 who were severely obese.
Their findings, published in April in the European Journal of Endocrinology, show that boys with normal weight had 1.5 times higher testicular volume than their peers who were overweight or obese before puberty, and that boys with normal insulin levels had as much as 2 times greater testicular volume than boys with elevated insulin levels….