Boys who are overweight in their adolescence face a higher risk of fertility issues later in adulthood, according to a new study in the European Journal of Endocrinology.
In April, a team of Italian researchers published their findings on a study of 268 children and adolescents between the ages of roughly 2 to 18. Scientists examined the relationship between weight, testicular volume, and insulin resistance. Male minors who were overweight or obese, they found, had lower testicular volume (TV), which is associated with lower sperm count.
“Childhood and adolescence represent an important time widow for testicular development,” researchers reported. “Therefore, these phases should be considered a critical moment for the prevention of andrological diseases that may arise later in life.”
The team concluded that “children and adolescents with overweight/obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and insulin resistance have lower TVs than their age-matched controls.” In other words, children and adolescents with excess weight and an abnormal insulin response were found to have lower testicular volume and thus likely lower sperm production.
The study’s findings contribute to the overwhelming research that points to obesity as the root cause of the West’s health crisis. Falling testosterone levels, a primary hormone for metabolic function, might even be a primary driver behind obesity in men today. Male testosterone levels have plummeted by double digits since the 1980s and remain in steep decline as endocrine-disrupting chemicals saturate the environment.
U.S. health care spending exceeded 18 percent of GDP in 2021 after Americans packed on weight for six decades. Meanwhile, more than 2 in 5 Americans are now categorically obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Compare these bleak numbers to 1960: American health care spending was only 5 percent of GDP, and obesity affected just over 1 in 10.
New research from the University of Colorado Boulder in February found obesity is even more deadly than previously thought, raising individuals’ risk of early death by up to about 90 percent.
In women, obesity is found to increase the risk of complications in pregnancy, compounding reproductive issues faced by both sexes from extreme weight. Americans are already having fewer children than ever; fewer and fewer of the small number of those even willing to reproduce are able to do so. Roughly 2 in 5 American children are considered obese by the CDC today, previewing a sustained fertility crisis with no signs of slowing.
Despite the country drowning in gluttony, political, financial, and cultural elites have capitalized on the crisis to profit off a nation that’s become chronically fat, sick, and depressed.
Weeks after a study was published by researchers at London’s Imperial School of Public Health that found every bite of ultra-processed food is killing people, the food industry deployed high-powered lobbyists to keep the “healthy” label on cereal boxes. Meanwhile, America’s health care establishment puts profit over people, recommending expensive weight-related surgeries and injections that should be reserved as a last resort over dietary improvements. The diabetes “miracle drug,” Ozempic, which has been prescribed off-label for weight loss, has become an adult obsession. Little do people know such medicines are designed by corporate health care giants to keep their patients hooked, not cured.
“Patient testimonies have focused not only on the dramatic effect on their waistlines, but also on how quickly many seem to pack the pounds back on if they stop taking the injections,” reported The Wall Street Journal earlier this month. “That may not be ideal for patients, but for Wall Street it is a feature rather than a bug.”
While Big Food and Big Pharma rake in dollars from big people, cultural influencers have gained big followings by raising the white flag on the issue. Lizzo is a cultural icon known as much for her pro-fat activism as she is for her music. British pop star Sam Smith has seemingly begun performing for the same audience.
Mass media are also complicit in the scheme. In January, Time Magazine stigmatized exercise as white supremacist. In January last year, Self Magazine, a women’s beauty publication, branded obesity as the “future of fitness.” The year before that, Cosmopolitan ran covers featuring obese women with the claim, “This is healthy!” The Cosmopolitan series ran in January 2021, when half the nation remained sedentary thanks to the government’s Covid lockdowns.
