Why take a chance?
Get goat!
Posted on 06/28/2016 12:05:27 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Vitamin D deficiency, consanguinity and obesity are major reasons that the Gulf’s rate of infertility is higher than that of the West, doctors say.
“Today, infertility is globally acknowledged to be a major health problem," said Dr Human Fatemi, medical director of IVI Middle East Fertility Clinic in Abu Dhabi.
“It is estimated that infertility affects 15 per cent of the global population of reproductive age, but this percentage is even higher in the Gulf."
Dr Fatemi’s clinic collaborated with Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece on a study of fertility in the Arabian Gulf, which was published in the international journal Fertility and Sterility.
The study calls for strategies to educate couples about how vitamin D, obesity and marriage between first cousins affect fertility. It also suggests guidelines to effectively manage the problems.
It said that in developing countries where access to infertility treatment is more difficult, childless women suffer discrimination, social stigma and ostracism.
Data from the UN has shown that average birth rates have dropped from 5.23 children for each woman in 1980 through 1985, to 1.97 in the 2005–2010. period. The UN projected that this was expected to drop to 1.62 by 2025 through 2030.
“Previously, no one did any research to find out the cause of infertility here," said Dr Fatemi, lead author of the study. “We are understanding better and better that parental consanguinity and lack of vitamin D play a role."
Lifestyle changes are also partly to blame for lowered fertility rates, he said.
“The lifestyle has changed completely in this part of the world in the past 30 to 40 years. Fifty years ago, there was no air conditioning and now people are inside all the time," said Dr Fatemi.
“You never go outside. Vitamin D prevents a lot of diseases, including cancers, and it activates the egg."
The study states: “The widespread distribution of the vitamin D receptor in reproductive tissues, including ovaries, endometrium, and placenta in humans and animals, suggests a role for the vitamin in female fertility."
There were also hormone abnormalities and ovulation dysfunction associated with obesity, the study states.
“If one’s body mass index is higher than 29, the receptivity of the uterus declines. The chromosomal formation of eggs also decline," said Dr Fatemi.
Dr Limia Ibrahim, a specialist in obstetrics, gynaecology, reproductive endocrinology and fertility at Abu Dhabi’s Burjeel Hospital, agreed that changes in lifestyle played a role in infertility in the Arabian Gulf.
“There are environmental factors," Dr Ibrahim said. “Food habits have changed. People are marrying late and conceiving late. Fertility is affected by all of these factors."
She suggested that people maintained healthy diets and exercise, and ensured they had enough vitamin D and sun exposure.
Dr Monika Chawla, an in-vitro fertilisation specialist, gynaecologist and obstetrician at Fakih IVF centre in Abu Dhabi, said there was a link between vitamin D and egg reserve and to egg quality.
“We do vitamin D tests routinely and work to correct it," Dr Chawla said. “The patient’s response to treatment, their success rates, their egg quality, their egg reserve definitely see an improvement."
Why do we need more Arabs?
Of course, the fact that all the women are covered head-to-toe in black fabric has *nothing* to do with this problem.
Yes, because be covered up like that prevents someone from getting Vitamin D from the sun.
To please Khorne.
I’m thinking we embargo milk to there.....
And we care because? (oil?)
Good God no more muslims!
To much vitamin D in the A.
Dang. I was hoping it was because of our microwave sterilization satellites beaming down onto that area.
These doctors seems to have recognized that, for most of adult life, fertility = health. I hope that what they learn is beneficial to many.
Oh look.
Fertility is dropping.
In the area where the most objectionable humans live.
What a coincidence.
With all the sun they have there? Doesn’t vitamin D come from sunshine?
Maybe they need to look at inbreeding and how it affects fertility.
Say it again: consanguinity, Consanguinity, CONSANGUINITY.
Women “of cover” don’t encounter much of that D.
I remember the first time I did some searches and reading on Middle East consanguinity. Very eye opening.
Actually every Saudi female patient I saw WAS on vit D supplements.
Hmm. There is also a voluntary drop-off in fertility when children become more likely to live to adulthood. In the absence of high childhood mortality, parents choose to invest their resources into raising a couple of kids, instead of putting their effort into having babies.
That said, I really dislike the idea of fertility clinics—anywhere. I do not think it is a good idea for population health to try to overcome natural infertility. That only preserves the genetic factors causing infertility, with the result that those “bad genes” end up more prevalent instead of being weeded out. Fertility clinics have existed for a couple of generations now; how many more generations will it be before becoming pregnant naturally becomes the exception rather than the rule?
Vitamin D needs sunlight to be manufactured.
If you wear a tent and only show your eyes then you are depriving yourself of Vitamin D.
Besides, since when is muzzie infertility a problem. We could do with a few less muzzies.
Why take a chance?
Get goat!
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