This is a must watch – the guys from Try Guys, go about testing there Sperm and it turns into a competition.
What does a would-be father's waistline have to do with the health of his future children? More than you'd think.
It could be the incentive that helps men stick to their weight loss resolutions, says Professor Rob McLachlan, director of Andrology Australia, the national centre for male reproductive health based at Monash University.
Not long ago, the reason children of overweight parents became overweight themselves seemed simple – if the parents' extra kilos were the result of too many kilojoules and too little activity, it would be easy to "transmit" those same habits to their children. But now there's growing evidence that some of the influences that shape children's weight and health can start before they're born or even before they were conceived – and that their father's health can play a part.
"We know that a woman's health and weight affect her unborn baby's health – if a woman is obese or has raised blood sugar or high blood pressure in pregnancy, she can pass on a risk of these same problems developing in her children. But evidence is now emerging that a man's lifestyle habits and weight before conception can make a difference too – and if he's obese at the time of conception it can increase the chances of his children developing weight problems, " McLachlan says.
He points to a 2015 study at the University of Adelaide in which researchers took male mice from the same litter and overfed half of them so that they became overweight. When they compared the offspring of these two groups of mice, they found that the offspring fathered by the overweight mice were themselves overweight.
"This means that obesity can be imprinted on the next generation through the father, and while this and similar studies are in mice, not people, it's logical that the same pattern can occur in humans," he says.
Meanwhile, in new research reported in the journal Cell Metabolism in December, Danish researchers comparing the sperm cells of lean men with those of obese men found there were differences in these cells that could influence the appetite of the next generation.
So how can too much flab affect the DNA of sperm?
It's to do with epigenetics, explains McLachlan – the ability of lifestyle habits and environment to cause genes to switch on and off. This creates changes to the way the DNA code is read and the effects can flow on to our children.
Are these changes driven by obesity itself or the diet that underpins it?
"That's not clear – but studies in women suggest that both are important," says Professor Michelle Lane, a senior research fellow with the University of Adelaide's Gamete and Embryo Laboratory.
"But the good news is that you can turn the ship around by changing lifestyle habits – and that's a powerful message," McLachlan says.
"Sperm takes two months to develop which means that the most important time for men to improve their health and lifestyle is in the months before conception. This is a great reason to be quitting smoking, drinking in moderation, eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly and losing a few kilos if they are overweight," he says.
"You don't have to lose a ridiculous amount of weight to make a difference – when the process of weight loss starts, sperm quality begins to improve.
As for alcohol and its effects on unborn children, the advice for women is that it's safest to avoid it altogether in pregnancy and when trying to conceive, but with men – who metabolise alcohol differently – alcohol in moderation is OK, McLachlan says.
This doesn't apply to cigarettes. Besides affecting fertility in both partners, smoking can increase the risk of health problems in children not just when women smoke in pregnancy but when fathers smoke before conception.
"Cigarettes put stress on the integrity of DNA and some studies have found that the children of fathers who smoke have a higher risk of health problems including cancer," he says.
"The bottom line for couples wanting to have children is that the best chance of conceiving and having a healthy pregnancy is for both partners to make healthy lifestyle choices," Michelle Lane says.
A bit of a laugh for a Tuesday. This ad was written and filmed by an amateur film maker for this years 2016 Super Bowl. Think this one, which has made the finals is relevant for Vitamenz!! Enjoy!
Having a baby is an exciting thing, I guess. At least it seems these people are pretty jazzed about it.
But when you find out you're pregnant, how do you tell all your loved ones and distant acquaintances on Facebook?
These people seem to have figured out some pretty good ways to get that good news out there.
These 14 pregnancy announcements are hilarious, and it's hard to tell if some of these people are comic geniuses or just happened to stumble upon something great.
1. Well, that's one (happy) way to put it.
2. He has no idea what's about to happen.
3. This is the most coffee addicted way you could announce a pregnancy.
4. Someone had to do it.
5. We get it, bro: you lift.
6. I wish I could find a celebrity to make all my major life announcements.
7. I would be less than impressed, too.
9. I have watched a lot of Maury, and that's a very underwhelming reaction.
10. He looks far from impressed.
12. I actually feel pretty good about this one.
13. Think these people run the marathon?
14. I don't see a problem with this.
Older women desperate to become mothers could be helped by a revolutionary technique that makes their eggs young again.
Doctors in Nottingham, UK, want to turbocharge poor-quality eggs by using young, energetic cells taken from elsewhere in a patient's ovaries.
The many women in their 40s who turn to donor eggs would be able to use their own instead. Younger patients could also benefit, with early research suggesting the technique could boost the odds of pregnancy five fold.
However, there are questions about the safety of the technique, which could cost as much as £14,000 ($NZ30,000), and has yet to be approved for use in the US, despite being invented there.
There are also concerns that by manipulating eggs, the technique crosses a crucial ethical line. It might strengthen the case for tweaking eggs in other ways, creating "perfect" babies made to order by hair or eye colour.
One of three treatments being developed by Massachusetts-based OvaScience, Augment aims to revitalise old and poor quality eggs by giving them a power boost. An egg's energy comes from mitochondria, tiny "battery packs" that weaken with age.
OvaScience believes these can be supplemented with young, healthy mitochondria taken from a bank of very immature eggs that lurk on the edges of a woman's ovaries.
These extra "batteries" should give the egg the energy it needs to develop into an embryo.
When doctors in Dubai carried out a trial on women in their late 30s who had been through IVF multiple times, pregnancy rates jumped five fold.
Professor Fishel, who co-founded the world's first IVF clinic and is president of Care Fertility, Britain's biggest chain of fertility centres, has asked the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority for consent to treat 20 women.
Each would have a sliver of tissue removed from the edge of their ovaries using keyhole surgery. The immature eggs would then be removed and raided for their mitochondria.
However he cautioned that Augment will not help rid eggs of genetic problems that arise with age.
Professor Charles Kingsland, of the Hewitt Fertility Centre at Liverpool Women's Hospital, said: "It is very interesting and, crikey, if it works, it will be amazing.
Every day I thank someone for the beautiful gift of my children. It was not without its ups and downs, 7 miss carriages, 2 ectopic pregnancies, 2 tubes removed and 4 rounds of IVF it took to create # 2 of our brood.
Why is it that so many people in this world take having babies for granted. It is getting worse on a global scale and will continue for the foreseeable future.
Fertility is a nasty beast, it is a not pleasant nor is it sensible. We are taught from a young age that our pure presence on this planet is to work hard, re-create and hopefully produce the leaders of tomorrow and yet somewhere along the way we forget about those that have come before us.
It is debilitating, it saps us of our energy and all the while we have friends and family around us seemingly being able to give birth at the drop of a hat. I love that a lot of my family and friends have never experienced what we had too, what so many people around the globe have had to endure just to get the pleasure of seeing a first smile, a first tooth, a first try scored in a game of rugby, a first goal in a game of netball – a first endearing hug from a Grandchild to a Grandparent.
Those eyes that I look into – the ones deeper than the ocean itself reminds me of where we came from of who ultimately loves us and who created us. Sometime those people aren't with us anymore and it hurts and it's tough.
We have walked a strange path over the last few years, a path that I constantly have to remind myself is perhaps what is intended, as I always say " It is, what it is" but I would like to say today to all our friends and family on this page, tomorrow is another day a battle will be raging and you will succeed – I promise you, you will because you deserve too, and to those who have created us, and to those that are no longer with us – for today we remember your smile. RIP Mick!