If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times! And today, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of Louise Brown, the first test tube baby, I’ll say it again. We need to start studying and better understanding infertility. Once we were able to make life in the lab, we stopped studying and treating infertility. If you were having trouble getting pregnant, off to the IVF doctor you go to start mixing up a baby in the lab.

Two new studies presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) conference in Barcelona had this to say about male infertility.

Obesity in men has a negative effect on sperm volume and quality. Men with a higher BMI showed lower sperm volume and more abnormal sperm.

And another study found that men with Type-1 Diabetes had sperm with “genetic abnormalities in their sperm of sufficient severity to reduce its ability to fertilise an egg.”

Some experts in the UK are saying we should deny expensive fertility treatments to the obese.

Author Profile

Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Journal of Bioethics. As a field expert, she is routinely interviewed on radio and television including ABC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. She is also called upon to speak alongside lawmakers and members of the scientific community, even being invited to speak to members of the European Parliament in Brussels to address issues of egg trafficking; she has three times addressed the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women on egg and womb trafficking.