Australia research links obesity, infertility

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2007

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian researchers have found a fatty diet damages eggs in the ovaries and prevents them from becoming healthy embryos, a finding they say may explain why obese women are often infertile.

While obesity has long been suspected of hampering a woman's ability to conceive, the University of Adelaide research is said to be the first to find a direct scientific link.

Researcher Cadence Minge said experiments on female mice showed that fat has an impact on the egg before it is even fertilised.

"Consuming a diet of high fat causes damage to eggs stored in female ovaries," Minge said. "As a result, when fertilised, these eggs are not able to undergo normal, healthy development into embryos."

Minge said a protein called peroxisome...