Throughout my adult life, I’ve always been a big fan of finding out what’s going on in my body.
Over the years, I’ve tried a wide variety of tests — from standard tests that measure my blood sugar and cholesterol, to tests that claim to predict my risk of dementia (low, apparently) and even athletic ability (my genes suggest I would be a better powerlifter than a sprinter).
So when I read that some supermarkets now sell a home test for male fertility, I was tempted.
Because although I am now 66 years old and have four children, and have absolutely no intention of having more children, I was curious if I could still do that.
When I mentioned the test (which measures sperm count) to my wife, Clare, she thought it was a terrible idea, so I decided against it. But such tests exist because one in seven British couples struggle to conceive – and in half of the cases the problem is with the man.
Studies have shown that the testes can overheat when wearing tight underwear and this can contribute to low sperm count
This situation could soon deteriorate, as a recent major study revealed an alarming drop in sperm count.
The research, published last November in the journal Human Reproduction Update, drew on data from 53 countries and found that men from the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe all had a 50 percent or more drop in sperm count. experience counts in the past 46 years.
What is more disturbing is that the rate of decline has doubled since 2000. One of the study’s authors, Professor Hagai Levine, of the Hadassah Braun School of Public Health in Jerusalem, said we have “a serious problem which, if not mitigated, could threaten the survival of humanity” .
Why is declining fertility important? Not so long ago, many people feared that a burgeoning population would overwhelm the planet, with warnings of mass starvation and global wars as people fought over scarce resources.
Just last year, the United Nations predicted that the number of people living on earth would reach 9.7 billion by the middle of this century and continue to rise.
But the number of babies being born has declined so dramatically that Earth4All, a group of leading environmental science and economic institutions, now predicts that the world’s population will peak at less than nine billion and then begin to decline rapidly.
Aside from the personal grief for those who want to conceive but can’t, a decline in the birth rate leads to an aging population – and a smaller workforce (which also means fewer people to care for that aging population) and fewer tax revenue for governments.
I am now 66 years old with four children, and have absolutely no intention of having more children. I wondered if I could still do that, writes Dr. Michael Mosley (pictured)
It is clear that a number of factors come into play: the cost of childcare and rising house prices mean that many couples decide to have one child, or two at the most. But the evidence suggests that declining fertility and declining sperm counts also play a role.
Professor Levine points to rising obesity, coupled with what he calls “chemicals in the environment” that are detrimental to the reproductive health of men and women.
These chemicals include PFAs (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) which are also called ‘forever chemicals’ because they do not break down easily and linger in the environment.
PFAs are found in drinking water as well as in a wide variety of consumer products, such as food packaging and the stain-resistant coatings on carpets and furniture.
As I’ve written before, they accumulate in our bodies and have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, as well as kidney and testicular cancer. But more recently, we learned that PFAs can also cross the placenta and affect the growing fetus.
A study of 864 young men in Denmark, published last October, found that those whose mothers were exposed to higher levels of PFAs early in pregnancy (measured by looking at stored blood samples) produced significantly less sperm and had more of that sperm was abnormal.
Another study, published in March, found that women of childbearing age with higher levels of PFAs in their blood were 40 percent less likely to conceive and have a baby over the course of a year than women with lower levels.
This isn’t definitive proof that PFAs cause infertility, but the advice of the lead researcher, Dr. Nathan Cohen, a public health expert at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, is to minimize exposure to them if you can.
That’s easier said than done, because they are everywhere.
It can help to filter your tap water, while it’s also a good idea to eat less junk food since the packaging it comes in often contains PFAs. takeaway had higher levels of PFAs in their blood than those who didn’t.
Non-stick pans are also a source of PFAs, so throw them out if they get badly scratched and don’t use them for high heat cooking.
As I mentioned earlier, you can now buy home test kits that can apparently detect with 98 percent accuracy whether your sperm count is normal — though they won’t tell you if they’re healthy.
If your numbers are low and you’re hoping to have children, then it may be worth losing weight and switching to boxers – as studies have shown that wearing tight underwear can cause the testes to overheat and contribute to a low sperm count.
And of course see your doctor for further advice.