Infertility, hormonal disorders in women linked to obesity

Kounteya Sinha 2 Jan, 2007 0026hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK NEW DELHI: More and more obese women in India are finding it hard to conceive. The reason: Nearly 90% of them suffer from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a complex hormonal disorder that affects a woman's menstrual cycle, fertility and insulin production. It's also a precursor to conditions including Type II diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke and kidney complications. Gynaecologists and endocrinologists report that nearly 35% of women in India in their reproductive age suffer from PCOS. Besides a failure to ovulate, PCOS also causes an overproduction of androgens (male sex hormones) and estrogen, resulting in excessive facial and body hair in women. The prevalence of PCOS is rising because of increasing obesity. What's worse, experts report an increasing number of obese girls, as young as 10 years of age, being diagnosed with the condition. Read More