Moderate alcohol consumption affects sperm quality

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MunichAlcohol consumption has many negative consequences - among other things, it damages the cardiovascular system, the liver and promotes the development of cancer. But potency also suffers from too much beer, wine and schnapps. However, in a study, Danish researchers have now shown that even moderate alcohol consumption affects fertility.

Men who regularly grab a beer after a hard day's work are putting the health of their sperm at risk. A research team led by Tina Kold Jensen from the University of Southern Denmark was able to prove this in a study with 1,221 healthy men between the ages of 18 and 28 years.

Sperm quality under the microscope

For the examination, all men gave sperm samples in order to determine the quality of the semen (volume, concentration, mobility). In addition, the participants answered questions about their alcohol consumption - i.e. how much alcohol they had drunk in the week before the rehearsals, how much alcohol they drink on average per week and how often they had gotten really drunk in the last month. The men surveyed stated the amount of alcohol in units: One unit represented twelve milligrams of alcohol - which roughly corresponds to the alcohol content of a bottle of beer or a glass of wine.

Weekly consumption is decisive

The result: The sperm quality was worst in the men who had drunk more than five units of alcohol in the previous week. For around half of all respondents, this also corresponds to regular weekly consumption. Participants who stated that they regularly consume around 40 bottles of beer (40 units) per week had 33 percent fewer sperm - and around half of them were deformed. Whether the men had gotten really drunk in the last 30 days, however, did not play a role in terms of semen quality. However, this could also be due to the fact that too few test subjects did this immediately before the sample was taken. The researchers suspect that the week immediately before the test plays the greatest role, because alcohol has a direct influence on sperm formation.

Shedding bad habits

“Even those who regularly drink more than five units of alcohol per week impair their sperm quality - even if the negative effects are most pronounced after 25 units per week,” the researchers conclude. Young men in particular should therefore keep in mind that even such harmless-looking habits as the “after-work beer” can damage their fertility. (jb)

Source: Jensen K. et al .: “Habitual alcohol consumption associated with reduced semen quality and changes in reproductive hormones; a cross-sectional study among 1221 young Danish men ”, BMJ Open. 10/6/2014

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