A recent study has found that boys who are overweight or obese tend to have smaller testicles than their average-sized peers. A group of scientists in Italy also noted that these overweight and obese boys were at higher risk of a lower sperm count and infertility as they progressed into adult life, per the Daily Mail.
The study, published in the European Journal of Endocrinology, suggested that overweight or obese boys between the ages of nine and 14, as they progressed through puberty, tended to have testicles that are 50 percent smaller than their average-weight peers.
Scientists have warned that boys carrying extra weight can have substantially restricted growth of testicles, as it disturbs hormones and can ultimately lead to heat stress on the scrotum. Additionally, boys who had hyperinsulinemia, often a precursor to Type 2 diabetes, had testicles that were up to 50 percent smaller than their peers.
Scientists around the globe have been warning of dropping sperm counts for years now, and some have even suggested that it is now a threat to human survival. The Daily Mail reported that, in 1973, the average male sperm count was around 104 million per milliliter. And just 46 years later, in 2019, the number had dropped to 49 million.
Dr. Rossella Cannarella, lead author and a fertility expert at the University of Catania in Sicily, said: “Those with overweight or obesity, hyperinsulinemia, or insulin resistance displayed lower testicular volume than their healthy peers.”
“We speculate that more careful control of body weight in childhood could be a prevention strategy for maintaining testicular function later in life.”
There are several factors that scientists have suggested that could explain the expanding waistlines, including immobile lifestyles and exposure to pesticides. However, no single reason has been pinned down that could explain the collective trend of overweight boys.
The CDC has reported that from 1999-2000 through 2017-2020, the prevalence of obesity in the United States had gone from 30.5 percent to 41.9 percent. During that same span of time, the trend of severe obesity rose from 4.7 percent to 9.2 percent, more than doubling.
