OUR LATEST ISSUE
Son's foods can reduce men's fertility
Soy food
New research reveals that soy foods can reduce men's fertility by up to a half
"Those consuming an average of one portion of soy every two days had 41 million fewer sperm per millilitre of semen"
Studies in the journal Human Reproduction have found that a regular diet of soy food products, including mince, milk and tofu can noticeably reduce men’s sperm concentration.
It reports that even modest amounts of food containing soy had a noticeable affect. Authors of the findings revealed that plant oestrogens in soy products contain chemicals mimicking female hormones, which are likely to be the cause of the reduction in sperm count.
While the "normal” sperm concentration for a man is between 80 and 120 million per millilitre, the research found that those consuming an average of one portion of soy every two days had 41 million fewer sperm per millilitre of semen.
However, the study also pointed out that most men in Asia eat far more soy-based products and experience no change in their fertility levels.
Dr Allan Pacey, a senior lecturer in andrology from the University of Sheffield elucidated;
"Many men are obviously worried about whether their lifestyle or diet could affect their fertility by lowering their sperm count.
"We will have to look at adult diet more closely, although the fact that such large parts of the world have soy food as a major part of their diet and don't appear to suffer any greater infertility rates than those on western diets suggests that any effect is quite small."
