IVF Babies have High Risk of Diabetes, Obesity and other Metabolic Disorders

In 1978, the first test tube baby was born. A test tube baby is created through the process of In Virto Fertilisation (IVF), which is when egg cells are fertilized by sperm outside the womb. Scientists extract the ova (egg) from the ovaries of the woman. They then put the egg in a liquid with the sperm, which allows the egg to be fertilized.

Factors that affect the result of the IVF include the age of the woman, the normalcy of the uterus and semen quality, the success or failure of fertilization, and the number of embryos transferred. Now, more than three million babies are born through IVF. Risks have increased from about one in 15,000-20,000 to one in 4,000 cells.

First clues of problems with babies born through IVF was in 2001 with animal cloning studies. Scientists realized that in IVF there was a higher chance in offspring syndrome (abnormalities) and heart defects. Since they used the same procedures with animals, they predicted that it would affect babies too.

Though most test tube babies are born healthy, a large group are at a risk for low birth weight, which is associated with obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes (high blood sugar). At Temple University School of Medicine, Carmen Sapienza, a geneticist, is observing to groups of children. One group is born naturally, and the other is born through IVF. Sapienza was especially interested to see a chromosomal modification in the children born through IVF. Found out that 5 to 10 percent of modifications were in test tube babies. Sepienza says that these chromosomal modifications altered nearby genes, and that several of these genes express the metabolic disorders, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.

After the egg is fertilized, the embryos are either killed purposefully or accidentally, or frozen. Many people believe that IVF is inhuman and wrong. But others believe that infertile people must be able to have children. The survival rate of each embryo is 36% for a mid-aged woman (30-50).

Acknowledgments:
-http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=assisted-reproduction-genetics
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_fertilisation
-http://images.google.com/

By Dominic, Vahimir, and Giancarlo

Ivf Babies Have High Risks Of Diabetes, Obesity And Other Metabolic Disorders

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