Fat Eggs Cause Infertility
Obesity has been considered a major factor in infertility for a long time.
But now a University of Adelaide researcher believes she knows why. And she believes she knows how to reverse it.
In female mice.
That’s how she discovered that obesity affects eggs. By studying female mice.
The researcher, Cadence Minge, found that eating a high-fat diet causes damage to eggs stored in the ovaries. When fertilized, these damaged eggs can’t develop into normal, healthy embryos.
The culprit is a protein in the cells surrounding and nourishing the egg. The protein is called Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma, or PPARy.
The way this protein acts helps to determine how the ovaries sense and respond to fats.
But when the protein was selectively targeted with an anti-diabetes drug called rosiglitazone, the harmful effects of obesity on egg quality were reversed. Completely.
Rosiglitazone is sold as Avandia by the drug company, GlaxoSmithKline.
The drug can switch on the protein, PPARy. This changes the way the ovaries sense and respond to fats.
Which helps embryos to develop normally.
But Ms. Minge cautions that rosiglitazone shouldn’t be considered a quick fix for infertile women.
First, the study has been done on mice only. It may not work on humans.
Second, the drug may have harmful side effects. There may be safer ways of activating the protein.
More research needs to be done.
But the study reinforces the importance of a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle for women who want to conceive babies naturally.
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