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The American Fertility Association Blog

A Typical Monday at the Computer, or, I Couldn’t Get Away From Articles About Being Fat Today

August 4, 2009 - Tuesday
Posted by Corey

I am currently in the process of editing the articles that will appear in The AFA’s 2010 edition of the National Fertility and Adoption Directory.  This year’s book will have around 23 articles.  I received three of them for editing today, and it struck me that all three (written by Mike Berkley, L.AC; Daniel Shapiro, M.D.; and Stacey Roberts, PT, MH. Ph.C) discussed obesity and its detrimental effects on fertility and overall health.

Then, being a creature of habit, I checked out The AFA’s homepage newsfeed, which changes several times a day and picks up relevant news stories from around the world, and two stories right on our homepage were about?  You guessed it.  Being overweight.  One article focused on that newest catch phrase, brown fat, and the other one focused on body image and weight.

Recently I learned that Forever 21, my daughter’s (and mine) favorite clothing store, is creating a line of cool clothes for larger teenage girls called Faith 21.  And Lane Bryant is launching a teenage girl’s line this September as well.  You can certainly say that this is great news, and it is.  Everyone deserves to wear beautiful clothing.  But obviously, overweight teenagers represent a fairly large market and big profits, and that is the motivator here.  And no. This was not a play on words.

Personally?  I’ve been fat, and I’ve been thin.  Once upon a time, I even had the photos to prove it.  And I need to be honest.  At least for me?  Thin is better.  No, I didn’t say mega skinny.  I said thin.  Healthy thinness is better.  For overall health, certainly.  But also, for fertility. 

And here’s the at least for me part.  I feel prettier now than I did when I was fat.  Was that my reason for losing 78 lbs.?  No.  My motivator was a routine trip to the doctor, and finding out that my blood pressure was at potentially catastrophic numbers.  With two babies at home relying on me to, you know.  Live. 

I was sure that diabetes was in my near future if I didn’t straighten up and fly right, so I did.  I chose to be healthy and live. 

Fourteen years later, I have a teenage daughter who is thin and I am grateful, for a number of reasons, none of which have to do with her looks.  She would be beautiful in my eyes no matter what she weighed.  But when Caitlin contracted swine flu this past spring, I would have had to worry much more about it’s effect on her health if she had been 25 lbs. heavier.  If my girl was a typically overweight American teen, I would be concerned about her potential for diabetes, heart disease, and a whole litany of weight related health issues.

And of course, given my own pcos, I would be concerned about her future fertility.

We all know that everyone has the right to feel, and to be, beautiful.  I think that healthy weight exists on a spectrum and that we in this culture are not very tolerant of the spectrum.  Five pounds up or down and you’re Too Fat!!!  Or, Too Thin!!!  But.  If you go too far in either direction, I truly think you look unattractive (yes, I went there) for a reason.  And the reason is that being too skinny, or too fat, is simply not healthy.  And we as human beings find these ends of the spectrum unattractive as a way of preserving our species.  Being grossly overweight, or grossly underweight, will inhibit fertility potential as well as overall health. 

I know it’s hard.  There is no magic bullet for weight loss.  But if you are currently ttc, and feel in your heart that you are overweight, or underweight, talk to your doctor, make changes that make sense for you, and if overweight is the issue, exercise!  Magic bullet for weight loss?  There isn’t any.  Cliches aside, if I can do it, you can too.

For more information on weight and fertility check out these, and many other stories:
http://www.integramed.com/inmdweb/content/cons/conceptions/optimalweight.jsp
http://www.consumerreports.org/health/conditions-and-treatments/fertility-problems/what-works/fertility-treatments-and-your-weight.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1203036/Calorie-burning-healthy-fat-latest-weapon-battle-obesity.html?ITO=1490
http://www.di-ve.com/Default.aspx?ID=72&Action=1&NewsId=62850

Corey Whelan
Program Director
The American Fertility Association
http://www.theafa.org

Categories
Fertility • Infertility • Reproductive Health

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Pee in a Cup

July 31, 2009 - Friday
Posted by admin

That’s all it takes, suggests a recent study on bmj.com, to determine if you have an STD which could stand in the way of you successfully conceiving a child.  Chlamydia is the most common STD in the United States and it can lead to serious long term health complications in women, including infertility.  Guys, you’re not far behind.  Recent studies show it may also cause infertility in men.  When I say recent, I mean yesterday. 

And, as part of The AFA’s male reproductive health program, now underway with several other “A-listers” like the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR) - an official branch of the American Urological Association, Men’s Health Network, and the CDC, an extensive amount of research is currently being launched to determine the best ways to educate younger men and the most effective ways to approach them with that education. We have a lot of work to do, without a doubt, but all of us are really excited about making an impact in this area. In addition to STD prevention, we’re going to be looking at the effects of environmental toxins, steroid and other drug use and testicular self-exams as a way to get guys more “in touch” with their own reproductive health.

Five minutes with your doctor and a urine sample are all it takes to “flush out” (sorry, it’s Friday and I’ve been caffeine-free for two weeks) the possibility of carrying an undiagnosed STD.  If you want some incentive to do so, while getting a European vacation out of the deal, head to the UK where you’ll get an iPod just to get tested for STDs. Seriously. This is a real program and you may read about it here. 

Read Article about STD Testing:

Simple Urine Test Could Help Cut Chlamydia in Men

Brian Armentrout
Communications Director
The American Fertility Association

Categories
Family Building • Fertility • Fertility Preservation • Infertility • Male Factor • Reproductive Health • Sexual Health

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Green Birth Control?? What About Green Hamburgers?

July 29, 2009 - Wednesday
Posted by admin

By Jennifer Rogers

Created Jul 28 2009 - 7:00am

Green seems to be the color on everyone’s mind, and lately that has come to include birth control [1]. A green contraceptive is something we should work toward but it won’t prevent the growing number of gender bending fish in our waterways.

Synthetic estrogen used in oral contraceptives contributes only 1% to the total amount of estrogens excreted by humans [2].  Additionally, almost half of this synthetic estrogen is filtered out during our wastewater treatment processes. Of all the estrogen sent into our water supply through human biology, only a very minute fraction is synthetic. Clearly, there are other sources contributing to gender confusion in fish [3].

If we really care about our environment and our water supply, I’d like to suggest an alternative culprit: hamburgers. It turns out cows, chickens and pigs contribute an estimated 90% of estrogens to the environment. Yes, 90%. So if we really want to green our water supply, we need to start by greening our dinner. How? Well, first we’d stop pumping our livestock full of hormones or, at the very least, we would treat agriculture manure. Studies have shown that hormones from animal manure reach both surface and ground water and that livestock pumped full of hormones increase their excretion of these hormones up to six fold.[1]

If we are going to be concerned about synthetic human estrogen in our water, we also need to pay attention to other likely culprits, and both industrial and agricultural sources need to be considered.

I find it troubling that we have dramatized the contribution of estrogens in our environment to women on the pill. I’m not suggesting we should ignore the impact of estrogens in our environment. In fact, quite the opposite. Clearly, the types and sources of estrogens in the environment are diverse and cumulative. Natural estrogens (agriculture and natural human excretion) as well as synthetic estrogens and estrogen-mimicking compounds (other pharmaceutical uses, industrial chemicals, pesticides, plastics, etc) are present in our waterways and cannot be discounted as sources of the observed phenomena in fish, even at trace levels. What I am suggesting is that we stop the knee-jerk response that reducing estrogens is as simple as reducing women’s use of birth control pills. It is estimated that unregulated agricultural run off annually contributes 13 tons of hormones to our water sources. Clearly, we need to broaden the conversation.

What else can we do? First, we need to reform our chemical policy in the United States so that harmful estrogen-mimicking compounds found in our everyday products stay off the shelves. The burden cannot and should not be on individuals and communities to protect the health of their families. Instead, we need reform that requires pre-market safety testing of all our consumer goods and personal care products. Second, as the 50th anniversary of the pill is on the horizon, I’d like to ask my friends and allies to take some time to appreciate and even celebrate contraception. Modern contraception enables women to choose the number and timing of their children, which is central to our health and economic well-being. And, where all women have access to affordable contraception, birthrates decline and population growth slows. Slower population growth is not a panacea for today’s environmental problems, but it can ease pressure on natural systems that are reeling from stress. So, contraception is good for women—and for the planet.

In the meantime, we might think about forgoing that next hormone-riddled bacon cheeseburger. 

References: Callantine MR, et al. “Fecal elimination of estrogens by cattle treated with diethylstilbestrol and hexestrol.” Am J Vet Res. (1961) 22:462-465.


Jennifer Rogers is the Programs and Policy Director for the Reproductive Health Technologies Project (http://www.rhtp.org) where she is responsible for developing and leading key reproductive health projects and advocacy initiatives for the organization. Prior to joining RHTP, Jenn was the Director of Programs at the American College of Preventive Medicine, where she developed and oversaw ACPM’s adolescent and environmental health initiatives. She received her Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health from Boston University where she also served as a reproductive health advocate for the Massachusetts Emergency Contraception Network.

Categories
Fertility and the Environment • Reproductive Health

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Environmental Toxins, Autism, and Love

July 21, 2009 - Tuesday
Posted by admin

I have such a lighthearted step right now, I can’t begin to tell you.  My heart is singing.  I just sent my son Connor alone to the grocery store with a shopping list for the very first time!  He went. He spent money. (Bread crumbs, long grain and wild rice, orange juice and green tea).  He kept the receipt, and got the right change.

Connor is 14 years old.  He is also autistic.  In truth what he has is called Asberger’s Syndrome which I used to call the “Cadillac of autism spectrum disorders” because these kids have such high IQ’s.  What a silly thing to say, really, but understandable when your head is reeling from the diagnosis you feared most and the kid being discussed in a room full of experts is your own.

I’m proud of my son.

Some of you know he was the victim of a violent attack earlier this year because of his autism.  The details don’t matter anymore, except to say that he circumvented the house of the young men who attacked him in order to go to Golden Farm to buy groceries today.  That took courage.  These men never heard him play Beethoven’s 7th on the piano I guess, or read aloud from Lord of the Rings.  They just saw a young man, gawky and tall, that they perceived to be a weaker link.  Perhaps perception is not always what it seems.

Now that The AFA has become so focused on the avoidance of environmental toxins (poisons, really) to safeguard reproductive health.  I think a lot about Connor’s autism in a different way than I did when he was younger..  Please read this article on environmental toxins and autism in the SF Gate: to learn more about toxins in our environment.

As a patient advocate and educator, I feel a drive to move this information forward.  As a mom, all I can think is, did I poison my son.

People.  Something’s going on here.

You don’t have to be a scientist to notice that the kids filling up the classrooms of the special ed schools today are disproportionately born through reproductive technology, and a huge number of them are from twin sets.  Is there a link? 

Something is going on here.  We all must be a part of the machine that drives this inquiry forward. 

Because it’s the children that matter.  Our children.

Corey Whelan
Program Director
The American Fertility Association

Categories
Fertility • Fertility and the Environment • Fertility Preservation • Infertility • Reproductive Health

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What do male frogs with eggs, genital defects and your everyday products have in common?

July 20, 2009 - Monday
Posted by admin

By:  Heather Sarantis

Yesterday as I trolled the New York Times, I was excited to see that Nicholas Kristof was at it again. I am a fan of his under normal circumstances, but his recent columns focusing on hormone (or endocrine) disruptors just really hit the nail on the head.

Hormone disruptors are substances not naturally found in the body that interfere with the production, release, transport, metabolism, binding, action or elimination of the body’s natural hormones. They can scramble messages that natural hormones normally transfer between cells.

They are used in numerous everyday products, including plastic bottles, cosmetics, the lining of food containers, medical devices, pesticides and many others. And the vast majority of people are being exposed to them–some tests showing more than 90% of the people tested by the Centers for Disease Control having certain hormone disruptors in their bodies.

Kristof’s columns highlight several important trends. First, we are seeing evidence of hormone disruptors in wildlife, such as male fish developing eggs, which means their use is widespread enough that they are dispersing into the environment. Second, we are seeing evidence in humans – for example, baby boys developing genital malformations or young girls entering puberty prematurely, which means we are putting ourselves and our children at risk for reproductive and other health problems.

Researchers have known for years that hormone disruptors may cause health problems. For example, Bisphenol A, a hormone disruptor found in some plastic bottles (including some baby bottles), was known to have potential health problems as early as the 1930’s.  But scientific consensus about chemical safety–and subsequent regulation–is often a tough row to hoe. Last month marked a big success in the struggle – the Endocrine Society released a ground breaking report stating that exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals are a growing threat to human health and well-being. Recognition from professional societies such as this is critical in tipping the scales toward better safety regulation of chemicals, and many of us who work on chemical safety applaud the Endocrine Society for taking a bold stand on this issue.

So, what do hormone disruptors mean in everyday terms? If you are reading this blog, you are likely either thinking about having children or are several months or even years into trying have children. This is a good time to be learning about these chemicals.  What a woman is exposed to throughout her life, especially during pregnancy, can have long-term impacts on her baby’s health. There are too many hormone disruptors, and too many health risks from exposure to list them all here, but they can increase risk for a wide range of reproductive health problems, such as impaired fertility or infertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, miscarriage, shortened lactation and breast cancer.  For a more complete understanding of these issues, see Girl, Disrupted: Hormone Disruptors and Women’s Reproductive Health.
No formula currently exists that can determine the exact effects hormone disruptors will have on a person’s health. Research indicates that the effects depend on the potency and dose of the chemical, the timing of the exposure (especially if exposure happens during pregnancy), and overall health. Taking good care of your general health is important, and other ways to protect your and your potential future babies’ health include:

1. Support policies to prevent exposure to hormone disruptors and other chemicals that have not been proven safe. Current standards for chemical use do not adequately protect us. New national policies are needed to identify and phase out harmful chemicals and to require that safer substitutes be used.
2. Use healthier products when possible. There are many easy, affordable and simple changes anyone can make at home to reduce their exposure to environmental contaminants. For ideas on how to make these changes, please see www.womenshealthandenvironment.org.

Heather Sarantis is the Women’s Health Program Manager at Commonweal/Collaborative on Health and the Environment. She is the author of the women’s health and environment toolkit, works on the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and does many other things to help people reduce the exposure to harmful chemicals.

Categories
Endometriosis • Family Building • Fertility • Fertility and the Environment • Infertility • Miscarriage • PCOS • Pregnancy Loss • Reproductive Health

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