Obesity

Obesity

In The Jakarta Post of March 4, 1996, I read that obesity can
cause infertility in both males and females. This is interesting
news to me since I know of many young couples who have been
married for many years but have been unable to produce offspring.
There is a young couple who have been married for eight years.
The husband is a physician, so one can imagine how desperate they
must feel. Why do present day young couples have more difficulty
producing offspring than their parents or ancestors?

Perhaps the reason is right in front of us. Nowadays young
couples are better educated than their parents, so they are
better qualified to do white-collar jobs and consequently are
economically better off than their parents. However, where there
is a plus there is also a minus. Long office hours, working until
8 or 9 p.m. is not uncommon and excessive brain work perhaps
tends to reduce a young couple's libido and fertility.

No wonder that nowadays gynecologists have a very busy time
giving advice and treating infertile couples.

The world is full of paradoxical phenomena. In China, a family
should not have more than one child; in this connection, stories
of infanticide are many.

There are many well-off Indonesian couples who have difficulty
conceiving, while in other parts of the world children roam the
streets to eke out a living. I quote from a magazine: "Tens of
millions of children under 14 are toiling in fields and factories
across Asia." This implies that many irresponsible parents
produce offspring even though they are aware that they cannot
afford to raise them properly.

A. DJUANA

Jakarta