Warning to women 'too thin to concieve'

Underweight women are less likely to fall pregnant through IVF than overweight women, a study claims

Being too thin can be more damaging then being dangerously obese when it comes to trying for a baby, new research reveals.

While obesity can also affect a couple's chance of conceiving naturally, latest research suggests skinny women are even less likely to fall pregnant.

Period irregularity and low levels of the hormone oestrogen are already known as contributing factors to natural conception struggles, but now it seems that couples using cycles of IVF may also be affected by weight issues.

Researchers in Chicago studied the data from 2,362 cycles of IVF involving women under the age of 40 and found that fertility problems dramatically increasedin women who had an underweight body mass index (BMI) of between 14 and 18.

For underweight women the chances of delivering a healthy baby was just 34 per cent, this increased to 50 per cent for heavier but healthy women with a BMI between 19 and 28, and was 45 per cent in obese women with a BMI of 29 to 43.

The NHS says women should ideally have a BMI of 19 to 30 to be accepted for IVF.