Sperm Counts Among Western Men Have Halved In Last 40 Years, Says Study (theguardian.com)

New submitter flote shares a report from The Guardian: Sperm counts among men have more than halved in the last 40 years, research suggests, although the drivers behind the decline remain unclear. The latest findings reveal that between 1973 and 2011, the concentration of sperm in the ejaculate of men in western countries has fallen by an average of 1.4% a year, leading to an overall drop of just over 52%. The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction Update by an international team of researchers, drew on 185 studies conducted between 1973 and 2011, involving almost 43,000 men. The team split the data based on whether the men were from western countries -- including Australia and New Zealand as well as countries in North America and Europe -- or from elsewhere. After accounting for factors including age and how long men had gone without ejaculation, the team found that sperm concentration fell from 99 million per ml in 1973 to 47.1 million per ml in 2011 -- a decline of 52.4% -- among western men unaware of their fertility. For the same group, total sperm count -- the number of sperm in a semen sample -- fell by just under 60%.

Comments

Wild guess

[OrangeTide]

Obesisty?

Re:Wild guess

[bogaboga]

No...Blame the food. Whenever I go to those so called 3rd world countries, their fruits taste better, have an aroma and someone can tell that a neighbor is preparing beef or poultry from the perceived smell.

When one visits the fruit section of some of these so called healthy food stores, not an iota of smell/scent of fruit is perceived! Something is surely wrong here.

Re: Wild guess

[arglebargle_xiv]

Not being able to belch and fart in public, no more wolf-whistling or swearing like a sailor, the cancellation of the Man Show, eating fscking gluten-free vegan yoghurt steak-substitute, and having to get in touch with our "feelings", not only are sperm counts heading for zero, at this rate we're going to start having periods.

Re:Wild guess

[judoguy]

Exactly what I was going to post

Fat = more estrogen = less sperm

Not to mention the other parts of our diet.

Try the massive contamination of drinking water with estrogen from birth control pills as well as the estrogen mimickers such as soy products.

Every time Mr. Skinny Jeans gets a soy Cappuccino along with his Tofu smoothie, goodbye a little of the Mr. and hello a little more of the Ms.

I'm all for reproductive rights, but if you even mention the possibility that all those birth control pills are screwing up the hormonal balance of literally everything that uses water, at least in the U.S., holey moley, the feminists will scream bloody murder.

Repeat after me: "Nothing, nothing on Earth matters more than MY reproductive rights!! Not my health, not your health, not the frogs and fishes health. NOTHING!!!"

Estrogen

Estrogen

Estrogen

Re: Wild guess

[BarbaraHudson]

I don't know. I'm no where near overweight (around 15% BF) and my wife and I are having some trouble with conceiving, so I got my sperm levels checked and they are quite low. Oddly my T-levels are on the high side of normal. I'm fit and run 30-40 miles per week. No grey hair and no guy at all.

145lbs and 37 years old.

You're probably too skinny. Too low a body weight also lowers sperm production.

A man's fertility may be affected by his weight, a new study shows. Men who are either too fat or too thin may find that they have lower sperm counts, often low enough to be classed as 'impaired fertility'. The study, undertaken by researchers in Denmark and published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, could lend weight to the possibility that high levels of obesity in Western societies may be contributing to fertility problems.

The researchers studied 1558 Danish men, comparing their sperm count to their body mass index (BMI - a measure of weight in relation to height). They found that men with either a low or a high BMI had differences in reproductive hormone levels as well as lower sperm counts than men of the recommended weight. Men with a low BMI (below 20) were, on average, found to have a 28 per cent lower sperm count and a 36 per cent lower sperm concentration than men with a normal BMI. Men with a high BMI (above 25) had a 22 per cent lower sperm count and 24 per cent lower sperm concentrations.

So if you're already borderline, all that running will make it worse. Same as too high a level of testosterone will.

Also, what do you mean by "no guy at all?"

Re:Wild guess

[geek]

I blame skinny jeans. I've been in boxers and loose pants for decades and have no issues. I see these young beta males running around in skin tight jeans and I just figure they never want kids or something.

Re:Wild guess

[ArylAkamov]

It is likely the packaging too, look at plastics that leech BPA, which mimics estrogen.

Re:Wild guess

[LeftCoastThinker]

Not sure if that is the cause, but the issue you describe is related to the fact that most fruits and vegetables these days are grown far away, and to save money on refrigeration, the fruit is picked green and allowed to ripen in transit. The downside is that the chemical processes are not the same as ripening on the tree/vine/etc. and you wind up with highly acidic produce lacking in some nutrients.

Re:Wild guess

[Anonymous Coward]

These feminists sound like the worst. I mean, at least the ones that definitely exist and definitely said things that are characterized accurately by what you put in quotes. The articles you linked don't have any feminists saying anything like that, but the post is modded 5 informative so I'm assuming it's good information, and not jumping to conclusions. About feminism.

Re:Wild guess

[serviscope_minor]

A combination of obesity in men (besides not being able to spell) and the most highly educated women, those in academia, hating men

When did "women won't have sex with me" turn into "women hate all men".

Most of the women in academia that I know personally are in relationships. Bit of an odd claim that they hate men.

Re: Wild guess

[thegarbz]

Also, what do you mean by "no guy at all?"

Possibly you have identified the root cause of the lack of sperm count.

Re:Wild guess

[electroniceric]

Good points, notwithstanding the snark about hipsters being feminine (I mean, where do you go with lumberjack beard AND skinny jeans?).

Anyway, I think you're missing a huge culprit, possible the biggest one: PLASTIC.

It's in absolutely everything. These even if you're drinking raw tiger blood, if you're on Slashdot odds I daresay you're not out in the tundra killing it with your stone-tipped spear. That means organic or "conventional", vegan or meagan, it's been shipped in plastic, or you're consuming it in a plastic container, with plastic utensils.

Plastic is a known estrogen mimic:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

I'd bet on plastic over soy any day.

Though to be fair, soy is found in a fair wider variety of foodstuffs than anyone had imagine. Plus, when you get into questions of diet and the effect of different foods it gets really hard to figure out what the "natural" human diet is.

Re:Wild guess

[AmiMoJo]

When did "women won't have sex with me" turn into "women hate all men".

It's a coping mechanism. Rather than thinking that they are somehow inadequate or unlovable, they choose to believe that women simply hate men and are only trying to exploit them. That way not only isn't it a personal failing, it's actually a positive thing, unlike the poor cucks and betas getting used.

It started with the Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW) movement, and kind of developed into a philosophy until it was adopted by other groups like incels (guys suffering "involuntary celibacy", i.e. can't get a anyone to sleep with them) and simple misogynists too.

I have some sympathy for those guys, a lot of them have clearly had bad experiences, and relationships are very important to people. But reading some of the stuff on Reddit is pretty scary.

Re:Wild guess

[ath1901]

Citation needed! I can't believe this got +5 Insightful.

Where is the evidence supporting your claim? Has the nutritional value of fruits decreased since the 70s? You could blame anything that has changed since 1973. Why not the lack of lead in gasoline or Internet porn?

Before anyone blames it on any hormone like chemical found in plastics/fertilizers/pesticides/whatever, please show that our exposure has at least increased! For many nasty chemicals our exposure peaked in the 70-80s which increased awareness and regulations during later generations. Our exposure has decreased for many nasties, not increased. Lead being the obvious example but probably many other nasties like plastic softeners etc.

Count THIS!

[mnemotronic]

Ha! {wipes off mouse}

Extremely interesting...

[Sqreater]

Have they done a study to determine if there has been a balancing increase in sperm production by western women?

Re:Won't matter to some of us

[ShanghaiBill]

Heck, my wife gets pregnant if I look at her too long.

I don't think so. You might want to get a paternity test done on "your" kids.

Ripper was right!

[Rollgunner]

The communist plot to dilute our precious bodily fluids has succeeded !

Worry Not, Humanity, For I Shall Save You!

[hyades1]

If the trend continues, there will be a day when Western Man is no longer able to produce sperm at all.

But fear not, humanity! Thanks to frozen sperm, bulls that died years ago are still fathering calves. With my high IQ and 6' 2" manly-man size, I am willing to contribute now to save First World Man from extinction.

Charlize Theron...honey...I'm afraid you'll just have to lean into the strike zone take one for the team. The future of the world will be in your hands. Literally.

Inbox me, honey. Let's get this done!