Bad sperm from pesticides
Larissa Melville completed her traineeship in the editorial team of . After studying biology at Ludwig Maximilians University and the Technical University of Munich, she first got to know digital media online at Focus and then decided to learn medical journalism from scratch.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichThe quality of sperm has been going downhill for decades. There are many causes, especially smoking and plasticizers in plastic. Now it is clear: Vegetables and fruit contaminated with pesticides are also to blame. This is the result of Prof. Jorge Chavarro from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and his team.
The scientists examined the connection between the consumption of fruit and vegetables, which were contaminated with different levels of pesticides, and sperm quality. A total of 155 American men aged 18 to 55 who were patients with their partner in a fertility clinic participated in the study.
Peppers and strawberries are highly contaminated
The team used a questionnaire to determine how often and how much fruit and vegetables the participants had eaten on average. For example, they defined an apple or half an avocado as a standard serving. They also assigned the various types of fruit and vegetables to three categories, which were high (such as peppers, strawberries or apples), moderate and light (such as peas, beans or onions) with pesticides. In addition, the researchers examined a total of 388 sperm samples from the test subjects for the quantity and quality of sperm. These were collected within 18 months of the survey.
49 percent fewer sperm
The comparison of the diet with the fitness of the sperm showed: Those men who had consumed the most highly contaminated fruits and vegetables (1.5 or more servings per day), compared to those who had consumed the least (below 0 , 5 servings per day) 49 percent fewer sperm cells. At the same time, the proportion of normally built sperm was also reduced - by 32 percent. The increased consumption of slightly or moderately contaminated fruit and vegetables, on the other hand, seems to benefit the sperm very well: the percentage of normally built sperm was higher here.
Fruit and vegetables, yes, but the right one
"But that doesn't mean that men should eat only a small amount of fruit and vegetables. We haven't found any connection between the amount consumed and the quality of the sperm," says Chavarro. It is better to minimize the consumption of pesticides, for example by buying organic products or by avoiding products that contain particularly high levels of pesticide residues, he adds.
The study authors are confident that their results are of great importance. However, Chavarro qualifies: "In our study, men with problems in sperm production were overrepresented, so it is not certain whether our results can be transferred to the general population." In addition, the participants only provided information about their diet once - this could have changed . And it is also not known who ate organic products, he adds. For these reasons, and since this is one of the earliest studies in this area, the study authors believe further research is necessary.
Good sperm, good health
A reduced sperm quality is the most common cause of an unfulfilled desire for children in men. Sperm production reacts sensitively to many environmental influences such as hormone-active substances, nicotine, heat or even diet. For some years now, the quality of sperm has been linked directly to the health of men. Experts suggest that a man with bad sperm is also more likely to struggle with other health problems, such as high blood pressure or heart conditions.
Sources:
Y.H. Chiu et al .: Fruit and vegetable intake and their pesticide residues in relation to semen quality among men from a fertility clinic. Human Reproduction. DOI: 10.1093 / humrep / dev064
Hagai Levine & Shanna H. Swan. Is dietary pesticide exposure related to semen quality? Positive evidence from men attending a fertility clinic. Human Reproduction DOI: 10.1093 / humrep / dev065
Oxford University press release of March 29, 2015
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