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