How overweight affects fertility and how can acupuncture help?
Obesity increasingly affects people’s health. It is well studied and extensively agreed that obesity has negative impact on fertility. Women with obesity are three times more likely to suffer from infertility than women with body normal weight. The impaired fertility has been seen in obese women naturally and obese women with assisted conception. Obesity reduced fertility by affecting ovulation, egg development, embryo development, endometrial development implantation and pregnancy loss. Obesity affects ovulation and period cycles. Obesity has effect on hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis which is important in regulation of sexual hormone production. If this axis is disturbed, normal hormone production is impaired leading to abnormal period cycle and anovulation. This causes infertility. Women with obesity respond poorly to ovulation induction. Weight loss only could restore normal period cycle and ovulation; it increased response to ovulation induction. Obesity affects egg quality and