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Reuters
When it comes to sperm counts, French men aren't what they used to be, according to a new study.
Researchers found that between 1989 and 2005, the number of sperm in one milliliter of the average 35-year-old Frenchman's semen fell from about 74 million to about 50 million - a decrease of roughly 32 percent.
"That's certainly within the normal range, but if you think about it, if there continues to be a decrease, we would expect that we'll get into that infertile range," said Grace Centola, president of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology in Birmingham, Alabama.
And the French aren't the only ones who should be concerned about a lack of swimmers, say researchers.
"A decline in male reproduction endpoints has been suspected for several decades and is still debated all around the world. Geographical differences have been observed between countries, and between areas inside countries," said Dr. Joëlle Le Moal, the study's lead author from the Institut de Veille Sanitaire in France.
Le Moal and her colleagues write in the journal Human Reproduction that global analyses have found decreases in sperm counts, as did recent studies in Israel, India, New Zealand and Tunisia.
Centola, who wasn't involved with the new research, told Reuters Health that she's found similar results in a group of young sperm donors from Boston, too.
For the new study, Le Moal and her colleagues used a database of France's 126 fertility clinics that recorded men's semen samples from 1989 through 2005.
The researchers narrowed their study to 26,600 samples provided by men whose female partners were later found to be infertile. That, they say, minimizes the risk that the men had a fertility problem.
Over the 16-year period, the researchers found there was about a 2 percent annual decrease in the number of sperm in one milliliter of the average man's semen.
"One would look at that and say it's not all that much. It isn't, but if it's occurring on a yearly basis it can add up," said Centola.
"Clearly if this type of decrease continues, we're going to find that we're going to have young men that have low sperm counts," she said.
The World Health Organization defines anything over 15 million per milliliter of semen as normal. However, the study's authors suggest that it may take longer for men with counts in the lower range of normal to conceive.
Environmental factors?
The researchers also found that there was an increase in the number of abnormally shaped sperm over the study period, which can also influence fertility.
Part of that finding, however, can be explained by scientists getting better at recognizing misshapen swimmers, but not all of it.
"So both results are important," said Le Moal.
But why does it seem men are shooting more blanks than before?
Two recent studies have actually suggested that modern technology such as laptops may be capable of cooking sperm, but the new researchers suggest it could be also be other environmental factors, such as increased exposure to harmful chemicals that may decrease sperm count.
But Le Moal said it's also important to consider that men's lifestyles may have changed over time. For example, men may be more sedentary and/or heavier than they were in 1989.
"I think it's a combination of a lot of things," said Centola, who added that it could be both environmental factors and diet.
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What a shame. Maybe it's their monthly bath that causes that.
Nah, you're thinking of the English...
Too bad this isn't going on world wide perhaps with fewer people on this planet it will survive the virus known as "Homo Sapiens" .
You worded that a little too confrontationally
fu-boomer but I agree with the idea that people need to realize that
reproducing at the rate we have been for the last fifty years is no extremely
dangerous to the planet and to our own continuance as a species and choosing to
not have children may be the more noble option today as opposed to how the
opposite of that was true in the 19th and early 20th centuries
when married couples would risk being ostracized from their communities if they
chose not to concieve children.
Hey Aussie Guy - at least the English TAKE a bath and when the do, they use WATER.
Not withstanding my lace collars, I've had my bath for December already....
Cheers.
FedUpBoomer: lighten up - if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off. Living on Earth can be the dreggs at times, but it DOES include a free trip around the sun...
Nothing’s ever “Free”, alex – you pay for the
round-trip around the sun with 365 days of your life that you’ll never get back
and which is technically priceless so it’s far from costless excursion.
YES! Now maybe the natural selection will filter the French off the planet and it can become part of England again.
The sperm are full of ennui...
Now this is a story I could have done without.
Slow news day?
I just want to know whose job it is to track this. That is to say, who wakes up one morning and decides to begin tracking French sperm? How weird is that?
Who cares about a low sperm count anyway? With the world through civilization rapidly moving away from natural selection to everybody is selected we are dooming ourselves with the undesirable traits that nobody wants in future humans. After everyone is selected then we have to artificially make everyone a hero and star.
Let's just get to the home grown, genetically engineered kids we all want in the first place. Place an order wait 9 months, or maybe shorter for the premium expedited version, and have your kid delivered. Eliminating all of that pregnant mess, etc. Don't worry we can still have fun under the sheets and without worry.
Phil, if it wasn't for the French, Americans would still be British.
Charle7834 perhaps we would have been better off in the long run - after all we would be subjects of Royalty not Royal Republican Pains in the asses!
This study coincides with a recent study which showed testosterone levels in men who live in advanced industrialized nations are dropping. The suspected culprit in the drop in testosterone levels was culture itself. It is no longer acceptable in many cases and settings for men to "act like" men. Society these days prefer a more refined and almost feminine male as what was accepted or desired in former times. In a sense, it is the result of the "wussification" of societies around the world. We no longer need to be strong and rugged to survive. As a matter of fact that will likely work against you in a relationship or career. If you can't be a provider ,women are instinctively unattracted to you. And, lets face it "gay-ism" is on the rise so the data should continue to trend in the direction societies are taking us.
"Who cares about a low sperm count anyway? With the world through civilization rapidly moving away from natural selection to everybody is selected we are dooming ourselves with the undesirable traits that nobody wants in future humans."-
So, that means that because I'm bilingual, can still bench press 275 at 54 y/o, have an I.Q. of 140 and possess multiple STEM skills, I can kill my worthless, cantankerous, pale boss, take his job and breed with several healthy, stacked, smart young women that I think would contribute to the overall health and evolutionary progress of the human race???? Sounds good to me...
Even their testicles have surrendered.
I am curious to find out about us here in the US....there's a possibily we too are shootin blanks, probably worse than the French...
The great recession took a toll on the missile launchers, cant get it up in the first place
Thank God. The French (and French Canadians) are a$$holes. Maybe there will be less of those frogs in the future!
The French sperm are actually being produced. But, they run away.
Running away ?
Waving a white flag of surrender ??
Like most things French, the sperm can't be counted on to finish the battle once it's been started. Luckily, for the French Ladies the American men's equipment are always operating at peak efficiency. Where the French man would run and hide the American man will step up and finish. Of course we will have to hear how we pillaged and messed up the fine virgin forests in getting this business of work done. Next thing you know they will want us paying for all the new construction too.
Since you obviously didn’t read the story jason I’ll
just let you know that you’re wrong- men in boston have also been showing lower
sperm counts over the same period of time and since our diets/ modern lifestyles
aren’t all that different it’s likely that american sperm-counts all over the
country are seeing the same drop-offs that the french are. Also stop being
racist please.
Now I hate the French as much as anyone, but to be fair they only surrendered so quickly in WW2 because they lost half their population of fighting aged men in WW1. Which they won.
Litterhater: Yes, well Boston, what can you say, bunch of immigrant micks who support terrorists (IRA)
I happen to live right outside of boston, phil,
and that’s no where near accurate. The city has some of the lowest
immigration-rates in the country and I’ve maybe heard the IRA mentioned twice
since I’ve lived here and both times were in jest by drunk people. Maybe visit
a place before you make such ignorant characterizations of it. You don’t see me
telling you that Chicago is the new murder-capital of the united states and is
filled with nothing but meth and spray-paint.
While initially great news on the surface, expect shortages of French Fry Tator Tots........
France didn't surrender in WWII-- a Republican politician (Phillipe Petain) sold out the French State to the Nazi's under the guise of an armistice after their defeat in the Battle of France, creating a pseudo-government called Vichy France. The majority of the French people disagreed with this truce with Axis powers and formed the Free French Forces under De Gaulle (aka La Resistance). The Free French State and Britain united forces after the invasion of Poland.
Americans, you need to get your head out of your ass regarding WWII. You helped out, but you didn't win the war single-handedly, and you arrived fairly late in the game (2 years after the invasion of Poland in 1939), finally formally joining the Allied Forces after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Before Pearl Harbor, America sent some supplies and agreed to protect British convoys in the Atlantic but did not want to get involved and did not send any troops.
Charlie, D- History lesson and fight your own wars next time with just your Limeys.........
Phyto-estrogens like soy in the food supply and toxic runoff from pesticides are the culprits.
Male frogs, the mine canary analog, in some biomes vulnerable to pollution are being born with genitalia too small to reproduce.
Now it seems that male Frogs are having the same problem.
But, seriously, 25 years ago I read an article that the phyto-estrogens in soy are not good for male sexual development.
So no more tofu for my son, and I had to find a canned tuna that did not have hydrolyzed soy protein in it.
Really, we have to keep a closer eye on the hidden toxins in our food supply and the unintended consequences of letting big agra and big pharma and big chem have their way with us.
More and better labeling, please.
Men who eat an average of half a serving of soy food a day have lower sperm counts. (Source Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal, "Human Reproduction", Issue July 24, 2012). At Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA, 15 soy-based foods with 99 men were tested. Different foods have different levels of soy-produced isoflavones in them, so the sizes were adjusted to make everything equal. One half of soy food a day would be equivalent to eating a soy based burger every other day, and on average men that consumed this amount had a sperm count around 41 million sperm/ml less than men who do not eat soy foods. Normal sperm count is 80-120 million/ml.
The issue for the men worldwide is that soy products run rampant now in the food supply, especially fast foods. Currently food labels do not contain the amount of isoflavones or phytoestrogens in the food products. Without knowing how the soy in a food product is processed – high temperature can help alleviate the problem – the consumer cannot not determine what soy products would not affect sperm counts. Soy based foods used in the Harvard study were tofu, tempeh, sausages, bacon, burger, soymilk, yogurt, ice cream nuts, drinks, powders and energy bars. (Source dietaryfiberfood.com).
Soy is now in many fast foods, frozen foods, breads, processed meats, canned meats and vitamin supplements. Food labels need to be improved to explain how the soy is processed and list the amount of soy related isoflavones and phytoestrogens. Currently, men's sperm counts are going down, and women's breast cancers' rates are going up (phytoestrogens are suspect for helping to develop some breast cancers). Not all soy products are bad, but right now the consumer can't tell what is healthy for them and what is not. Our food labels need to be improved, so that consumers can make wiser choices.
I'm not surprised about the sperm count decreasing all over the world, probably especially in the highly industrialized nations. Chemical and electromagnetic environmental pollution has increased tremendously over the years, while our health technologies have not made much advances at all (not profitable enough to do so). There is not much effort made to educate the public about what health is and how to promote and maintain it. Everybody's brainwashed into thinking that pleasure is all that matters and that diet has absolutely nothing to do with one's health.
In addition, tight underwears are another established factor.
Electromagnetism doesn't count unless it is a gamma ray from space. Even then, it won't be a major decrease in sperm counts, it would just give you cancer. There was only one study published that would support the link to cell phones, and they used 16 sperm samples to test it. That's not enough. Then they didn't account for the tissues between a cell phone and sperm, such as muscle and skin. In other words: it was a non-result, but if you're trying to conceive, you'd do good not to stick your cell phone into your wife or girlfriend after an attempt.
Heat from laptops on the lap is a far simpler cause, but at best it can only explain a fraction.
Hard as I tried no pun intended,I could not come up with a good one liner. lol So we will go the serious route.
My thinking is that Viagra and other drugs like it could be part of the cause.
This in reference to does Viagra kill sperm.
Completely irrelevant. People who take Viagra are older and they've already had all the children they're ever going to have. See comment above by alfred_bielek for something more reasonable.
AB-1981: you're way off on that assessment. Many young guys today eat Viagra all the time so they can keep up with the woman who want to go at it all night as well as to offset the effects of snorting too much cocaine. I also know married men who use Viagra when they cheat so they can impress the lady the are entertaining for the night. Its not just the old timers using this stuff.
Randy
The voice of experience talking? LOL
Take it easy. I had to harass someone this morning and your number just came up.
Have a fun day.
@Coral Taxi, @Rational Randy, fair enough, but where is the connection linking Viagra to decreased sperm counts?
Okeeboy: That was pretty funny. I tried Viagra once just for ships and giggles. I did not enjoy the experience, I felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head. I'm in my early fifties and thank God do not need it.
AB-1981: I did not say there was a connection, I was only commenting on young people using it.
@ab;
http://www.pharmalot.com/2007/06/viagra-may-kill-your-sperm/
I hope it is not until my 60s or 70s that I even have to touch the stuff.
I believe after foreplay 20 to 30 min is good, or however long it takes to sassify your partner. lol I believe most women would agree. Most women do not want to "go all night".
The French-- no balls, you could stop the study there.
They may be fewer but they're stronger swimmers!
If those french ladies were to shave ,I`d get started ASAP !
Wow, here come the haters. The French people are kind and wonderful people. I don't understand the venom here.
Well, obviously you have never been a US Marine visiting France. They were the rudest ppl I encountered in all of the 15 countries I have visited.
Chris, Please don't feel singled out because you were a Marine. They act that way to civilians, too. Outside of the former members of the Eastern Block, where grumpiness was learned from many previous generations, the French are certainly the rudest, most hostile and least tolerant of foreigners than anyone -- including the Arabs! I don't think the prospect of national infertility in that country will generally be considered bad news for the rest of the world.
Chris, were you acting like the typical "ugly American?" I saw a lot of that when I was in Korea and the soldiers that acted that way were often mistreated.
In 2002, I went on a sail trip to many islands with a group of guys I worked with. ST. Barts and Guadeloupe had by far the rudest people we encountered. While eating at one restaurant, a French girl with her boyfriend looks over and says'"American Sh-t". I asked what she said and she repeated it. She said she hates Bush. I asked her what that had to do with us. When I reminded her that Americans saved their asses from Hitler, she replied, and I quote; "Hitler, who is Hitler". At that point i felt it was better to end the discussion right there and went back to drinking my wine(which was exceptional by the way- no sulfates).
France has 59 Nuke plants spread throughout the country. Who knows?
...AND, they use more chemical treatments in their agricultural practices than all of their contiguous neighbors, combined!
You lose what you don't use.
Hmmm, an article about sperm writtem by A. Seamen.
No irony there!!!
I feel like you don’t know what irony means, adrienne.
The author’s name would be ironic is her name was N. Fertile or something like
that because it means the opposite of what the story is about. With her name
being a synonym for what the story is about it’s just a humorous coincidence
which is by no means an irony.
I feel like you don’t know what sarcasm is, LittleHater.
No I’m familiar with the theory but what she
said was completely genuine as can be seen by the use of the triple
exclamation-points. It’s not really her fault though for misusing that term I
guess because with the failing school-systems all across the country most
people have no idea what it means but use it in uncalled for situations just
because they think that it makes them sound smart.
I think the author's name is hilarious! Do you think it is a pseudonym?
In the end, they'll realize it's just Mother Nature's way of dealing with the world's exploding population by first eliminating the non-productive. Darwinian in essence. Strange she would start with the French, though, and not the lawyers ...
I was going to say the same as Stunned Kiwi.......overpopulation is the single largest threat to the human species, every species and the earth. Since we are just hurtling toward disaster like a bunch of mindless lemmings maybe mother nature is stepping in.
Great, now who's going to make my fries?
I bet the 20 million Muslims that live there have perfectly fine male sperm counts.
It's because they use it up, early and often ;)
But it really shouldn't matter, as males are supposed to be reproducing during their peak, aged 15 to 22. Physiologically, 35 is reproductive old age.
Because the haters are stupid perhaps?
maybe Andrw seamen can help
By investigating and writing-up this story he is
helping, paul, as knowing is half the battle. Now the hope is that people begin
to take this issue seriosuly and look into what it is about their daily
routines that could cause their sperm-rates that be diminished and coupled with
future research and perhaps medical advancements then we can fix this problem.
I hope it's happening to me... My sperm have gotten me into nothing but trouble my whole life... 8-)
Most French men are sexist pigs... but I must say...France has the best food in the world!!!! Maybe you have to be a sexist pig to prepare delectable meals.
Racheal ray isn’t a “sexist pig” and has
inspired people of both genders all around the world to eat healthy but still
feel free to create their favourite dishes and not spend all their time
worrying over the health-effects of it all. Maybe you should keep your
generaizations to yourself because you sound extremely ignorant when you make
statements such as that.
Wow ....NBC did you really have to go there? You have just opened this vine to a world of comedic high jinks ......
Most French people I have met are rude. The sperm just up and left. It must be that yellow stripe.
Pfft... the French have been pussies since before WW2.
As Martha would say: " It's a good thing "
Do we really need this article that accompnanies this hedaline? I mean the headline says it all and is probably enough.
You need to use spellcheck, friend...
Yes, I hit an extra "n" by mistake. Now, tell me, are you going to go around policing the spelling of every post without having anything meaningful of your own to say?