Technology offers prospective parents new hope

In Chinese hospitals, assisted reproduction plans are tailor-made for individual patients. "If an attempt at pregnancy has failed, the doctor will make adjustments to the procedures, and perhaps the outcome of the couple's next attempt will be different," he said.

At all 19 assisted reproduction institutions in Shanghai, couples are under the supervision of a single doctor throughout the entire procedure. The doctor is responsible for choosing the most suitable plan for each couple.

Another example of groundbreaking research on reproductive medicine in China is based on the theory of "gamete origins of adult disease" put forward by Huang Hefeng, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The theory suggests that the possibility of falling ill in adulthood may be a consequence of what happens at the early stages of eggs and sperm, even before a new life - a fetus - is formed. It is one step on from the widely accepted medical theory that the feeding and environment of a fetus can result in certain diseases in adulthood.

The theory led to a 10-year World Health Organization research program that has been carried out in China, India, South Africa and Canada for four years.

Couples planning to have a child are recruited for the program and placed in a study group or a control group. For the study group, doctors contact the couples on a daily basis, urging them to keep exercising and to control their calorie intake, Huang said.

The program focuses on obesity, which is a global health concern, and the children of these couples will be observed from birth until they are 5 years old, she added.

Huang said that in her study the DNA of sperm from an obese man remained unchanged even after he had lost weight, but the epigenetic appearance was completely different. "The epigenetic appearance is like clothing for DNA. It's like when people put on different clothes, they may experience different moods," said Huang, president of the International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital of the China Welfare Institute in Shanghai.

In her theory, she states that epigenetic changes can also be inherited.

She said that in laboratory tests on mice, the obesity rates of those conceived when their parents are overweight and after they lose weight showed obvious differences.

She also observed from the lab tests that mental stress among parents initially planning to have babies also affects the health of the offspring, who usually show a higher incidence of offensive behavior.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine wrote in reply to a request for comment, "Such research is also an effort to explore the cause of chronic diseases from the initial developmental source of life and will shed new light on the pathogenesis of diseases, such as metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.

"If there are breakthroughs, it will greatly benefit a wide range of patients in the world."