Infertility Issues in the Teen Years, Not Just for Girls

As I wrote earlier this year, we're starting to see more awareness of the need for even teens to consider how their current health can impact future fertility. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) generally begins in very young women, although most women don't even learn about the hormonal condition until they have problems trying to get pregnant. Now, just as research is showing us that men's lifestyle choices – including diet and exercise – can make a difference in their fertility, we're also learning that teen boys' health might foretell whether they'll have obstacles in becoming fathers later.

A study published in Clinical Endocrinology produced mildly alarming results – a 50 percent reduction in testosterone in teen boys who are obese. According to this related article on the SUNY website, such findings point to an increasing risk of impotency and infertility later in life.

Granted, the sample size is small, so the researchers advise that more studies are needed with greater numbers of subjects to confirm this study's findings. And the research group plans to next look at weight loss and any resulting (hopefully positive) changes in obese teens. But there is already a wealth of strong data pointing a strong connection between obesity and negative reproductive consequences, and now, that data appears to hold up across the lifespan for both genders.

~ Dr. Sonja Kristiansen M.D.