High Body Cholesterol Gives Rise to Conception Problems: Study

Parenthood may be delayed in couples who have high cholesterol levels, according to a study.

Past experiments have shown a woman's weight and body fat content interferes with her reproductive health resulting in infertility and difficult or late pregnancies. Experts at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in Rockville, Maryland, found both men and women with high cholesterol take longer to conceive than couples with normal or lower cholesterol levels.

For the study, researchers examined health records from the Longitudinal Investigation of Fertility and The Environment (LIFE) study involving 501 couples who were trying to have children. They recorded the cholesterol levels of all participants to note its impact on the time taken to conceive.

Nearly 347 couples were able to have a child a year after the study, 54 couples didn't conceive and about 150 dropped out of the trial.

 It was observed that pregnancy was delayed in most couples where both partners or just the woman had high cholesterol levels.

"If the woman has high cholesterol and the man has normal cholesterol, then it takes longer, but not as long as when both have high cholesterol. When only the man has high cholesterol and the woman has normal levels, it doesn't seem to have an effect," said Enrique Schisterman, study author and chief of the epidemiology branch at the U.S. Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD, reports the HealthDay.

However, the findings could not help determine if increased cholesterol content causes mechanisms that defer parenthood. The study did not test the efficacy of taking certain cholesterol lowering drugs in improving fertility. But, the authors believe maintaining a balanced lifestyle with healthy eating habits and regular physical activity can bring down the time taken to conceive by improving overall health and reducing cholesterol amount in the body.

"People who are trying to get pregnant should optimize their health. This includes not smoking, exercising, eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight. Whether cholesterol by itself affects fertility isn't clear," said Alan Copperman, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, reports the HealthDay.

More information is available online in the journal of clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.