- Researchers say boys who are obese may face a higher risk of infertility as men.
- They say obesity can lead to shrunken testicles, which can affect sperm count.
- Experts say intervention programs are needed to combat the increase in childhood obesity.
Obesity in boys may be linked to shrunken testicles and result in a higher risk of infertility for young men, Italian researchers report.
In their study of boys ages 2 to 18 who were referred to the Unit of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Catania in Sicily for weight control, researchers found that those with normal insulin levels had as much as two times higher testicular volume than boys with elevated insulin levels.
In the boys who were overweight or had obesity, hyperinsulinemia (insulin resistance) tended to lower testicular volume compared to other boys, researchers said.
This “testicular hypotrophy,” researchers said, is known to increase risk of infertility in men.
“Testicular volume does have a direct relationship to semen profiles and tends to be a good predictor of hormonal function,” Dr. Alex Robles, a fertility expert at the Columbia University Fertility Center in New York, told Medical News Today.
“There is data that infertile men on average have a smaller testicular volume compared to fertile men,” he added. “We can see this in men taking exogenous anabolic steroids as well. These individuals stop producing their own endogenous testosterone which will reduce testicular size/volume and sperm production.”
“Although the prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing worldwide, the impact of obesity and associated metabolic disorders on testicular growth is not well known,” said Rossella Cannarella, a research assistant at the University of Catania in Italy and a co-author of the study published in the European Journal of Endrocrinology.
“We found that being overweight or obese was associated with a lower peri-pubertal testicular volume. In addition, obesity-related comorbidities,…
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