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dirtydog

COUPLES who smoke, or are overweight, should be denied taxpayer-funded access to fertility treatments until they take steps to improve their health, a visiting expert says.

Nicholas Macklon says Australia should follow the example of New Zealand and other countries, which do not publicly fund assisted reproduction services for couples who are smokers or obese.

"I suggest that Australia should consider this model," said Professor Macklon, who is head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Southampton University in England.

"And patients should not expect to undertake infertility treatment unless they are prepared to give themselves the best chance of conceiving and having a healthy baby.

"We know, for example, that both male and female obesity is a factor in infertility and that smoking reduces IVF success rates by half."

Prof Macklon spoke at the Fertility Society of Australia's annual meeting, a three-day event which got under way in Perth today. He is considered a leader in the specialty of periconceptional medicine - an emerging field focused on the health factors that impact on fertility.

Prof Macklon said there was overwhelming evidence of the effects of poor diet, smoking and lack of exercise on reproductive health. And that infertile couples seeking assisted reproduction should prepare for pregnancy by making lifestyle changes that give them the best chance to conceive.

"Leading a healthy lifestyle to achieve fertility fitness should be considered as much a part of assisted reproduction as high technology interventions such as IVF (in vitro fertilisation)," he said.

Prof Macklon also said the objective of infertility treatment should not solely be to help a couple have a healthy baby "but to ensure that the child becomes a healthy adult".

"If a couple is fit and healthy, the chances of pregnancy are increased and the life-time health of the child will be greater," he said.

One in six Australian couples experience infertility - defined as the failure to conceive after a year of unprotected intercourse or the inability to carry pregnancies to a live birth.

An estimated 10,000 children will be born as a result of assisted reproductive technology in Australia this year.

Andrea Braverman, a renowned US specialist on the psychosocial aspects of fertility treatment, is also attending the conference. She said for some people, the news they were unable to conceive was equal to being "diagnosed with cancer".
The potential fall-out was not only personal, says Dr Braverman, as it often had a corrosive effect on relationships.

"For men it can cause feelings of sexual inadequacy, loss of potency and power (while) women can feel incompetent, useless and defective," Dr Braverman said.

"Sex as an expression of love can become an expression of failure month after month."

Dr Braverman said the medical or lifestyle factors contributing to fertility problems were shared equally by men and women.

Making the decision to seek help could also feel like their problem was being "taken from the bedroom and into a cast of thousands".

"For some there are happy endings, but not all," Dr Braverman also said.



Some fat people

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nedwalk

^ what kinda sick fuck would you have to be to want to procreate with something as hideous as that bunch of lard..

BobR

Granted fat people are disgusting, but this is the best argument I've seen against the National Heath Care System now being debated in America. In the west there are already too many government clowns telling you how to live your life.

jandajoy

And HOW ?

Sdigit

Dont let the fat fuvks breed, death to all smokers(eventually)

fatties

The modern scourge of society,, No not really it's just fashionable to demonise them

dirtydog

I should imagine what these 4 ladies eat in a day could keep a medium sized African village alive for a few weeks.

Sdigit

They all die of clogged arteries if they feasted on this banquet

jandajoy

One of these 4 ladies would be food for a medium sized village for a few weeks.

Sdigit

Gastric bands all round a I'd say

crippen

but if you want to do it,start at the outside folds,and it is the odd fold in the middle to aim for.

DaffyDuck

Alcohol - the great regulator.

nedwalk

^could you drink enough?

Doggsy

no you would drown first

callippo

World's Fattest Countries - Forbes.com

the fattest 8 countries in the world are all Asian ones, but nobody ever thinks to post pictures of grossly overweight Samoan or Kuwaiti women (at least in the seondf instance, you'd have your work cut out to get them to pose in bathing costumes).

panama hat

Yeeeeeha! Check out the skinny one in the pink bikini!!!!!