Weight loss is effective for improving women’s sexual function but not their fertility, a new study has found.

Researchers followed 29 morbidly obese women of reproductive age for two years after they underwent gastric bariatric bypass surgery. Monitoring ovulation frequency and quality, researchers found that ovulation rates and quality remained unchanged, and there was little effect on the ovarian cycle.

Obesity has long been linked to lack of ovulation and infertility in women. However, these results did not reflect researchers' expectations that weight loss would increase female fertility.