Study says older men less likely to be fertile if they are heavier

By Joe Morgan via SWNS

Older men are less likely to be able to have children if they are fat, a new study warns.

Aging sperm is more likely to be abnormal if the man has a higher body mass index, analysis has found.

Men with a higher BMI than 30, in the obese range, had sperm that was accelerated in age.

Even fathers who were able to have kids before gaining weight struggled with their reproductive health as they became obese.

The study consisted of an analysis of 44,000 cells obtained from autopsied human testes samples from four young men and eight older men.

Researchers say the results reveal that while ageing may lead to weaker sperm overall, having a high BMI exacerbates the process.

Dr. Bradley Cairns, of the University of Utah School of Medicine, said: "Aging may confer a combination of modest molecular changes that sensitize the testis for additional dysregulation, with pronounced dysregulation caused when aging is combined with additional factors such as obesity."

Senior author Dr. Jingtao Guo, also of the University of Utah School of Medicine, said: "Our study reveals potential biomarkers for diagnosis of testis aging and directions for potential treatment of aging-related subfertility.

"It also serves as a foundational dataset for the scientific community to study how human testis and fertility respond to ageing.”

The research was published in the journal Developmental Cell.