A Harvard University team analyzed the fertility of a particular class of men: young, in good physical shape, but with a diet rich in junk food. Despite the weight under control, the fertility of these young men was lower compared to participants with a healthy diet.

Many of the study participants were in the peak reproductive age, ie between 20 and 25 years. Nevertheless, they had less than 39 million spermatozoa per ejaculation. Under this sperm count, it becomes difficult to conceive naturally and the situation can only get worse with age.

The fault of all this? Red meat, ready-made foods, sweetened drinks and carbohydrates. The researchers analyzed the sperm of 3,000 men around 19 years of age. Furthermore, they subjected the participants to some dietary surveys. In this way they were able to divide them into four groups, depending on the type of feeding. Those who ate little meat, lots of fish and lots of vegetables were the ones with the healthiest and sperm-rich sperm.

We tend to blame obesity and physical inactivity for fertility problems. Both factors influence negative sperm counts, in fact. However, the bad diet seems to have a special role in all this. Junk food increases the risk of diabetes, obesity and cancer. In addition to this, the average number of spermatozoa collapses by itself. This could be one of the causes of the male fertility breakdown we are experiencing.

The most worrying finding of this study concerns long-term outcomes. Spermatozoa live on average 3 months: changing feeding, there should be a marked improvement in fertility. However, according to the researchers, a poor diet in youth could permanently damage fertility.

Source: independent.co.uk