(07-09-10) Drinking soda harms your sperm

by David Gutierrez, staff writer

Men who drink a liter of cola or more every day have lower sperm counts than
men who do not drink cola, according to a new study conducted by researchers
from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark and published in the American
Journal of Epidemiology. The effect did not appear to come from caffeine.

Researchers have previously speculated that high consumption of caffeine may
produce lower sperm counts. Most studies into the connection have been
conducted in specific groups, such as infertile men, rather than the general
population, however, and no scientific consensus has emerged.

In the current study, researchers took sperm samples from 2,554 men aged
approximately 18. All the men were undergoing physical exams to determine their
fitness for military duty between the years of 2001 and 2005. They also
collected beverage intake data on all participants.

The researchers found that men who never drank cola had an average sperm count
of 50 million sperm per milliliter of semen. Men who drank a liter or more a
day, in contrast, had only 35 million sperm per milliliter. While this
difference is not drastic enough to qualify as a problem by World Health
Organization standards, lower sperm counts have been well established to
correlate with lower fertility.

A much smaller effect on sperm levels was seen in men who drank large amounts
of tea or coffee, ruling out caffeine as a likely cause. The researchers are
unsure whether the lower sperm counts were caused by the cola itself, or by
other unhealthy lifestyle habits associated with soda consumption.

"It's important to note that the men who drank a lot of cola were also
different in many other ways," researcher Tina Kold Jensen said.

Men who drank large amounts of cola also tended to eat more fast food and less
fruits and vegetables.

"I imagine it's the lifestyle," said Fabio Pasqualotto, of the University of
Caxias do Sul in Brazil, who was not involved in the study.

Sources for this story include: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h... http:
//www.cphpost.dk/news/scitech/....

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Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.