How Food Quality Affects Your Sperm Count

Yes, you read that right: the food you eat can have a DIRECT effect on your sperm count!

The human body is a massive maze of interconnected internal systems and functions. Nothing that you do is ever limited to just one area—everything spreads and affects something else, in both big and small ways.

Your digestive system is not only the largest of your internal functions; it’s also very likely the most important. It’s what keeps the rest of your body fueled with the vital nutrients required to continue functioning. It’s your immune system, your body’s first line of defense against invaders, and the source of all energy and nutrition.

It shouldn’t be any surprise, then, that what you put into your digestive tract will have an effect on every other part of your body.

Studies have connected your eating habits to your energy levels, weight loss or gain, blood sugar levels, and even your brain health. Now, according to the latest research, it looks like even the smallest aspect of your sexual health—your sperm count—is directly affected by what you eat.

The Cold, Hard Science

Research [1] has indicated that sperm counts are dropping all around the world. North America isn’t the only one being affected—it appears that New Zealand, Australia, and Europe are also noticing significant decreases in sperm count. In fact, sperm counts have dropped by a startling 60% between 1973 and 2011.

A pretty scary trend, right?

Researchers trying to understand what’s causing this decline in sperm count have begun taking a look at the Western diet, the eating habits prevalent in the countries most noticeably affected.

A team of Danish scientists [2] examined nearly 3000 young Danish men with the goal of determining whether or not their diet could affect sperm count. The men were between 19 and 20 years old, and most of them had “normal” body mass index.

The researchers looked at four diet types:

• Western

• Vegetarian-like

• Prudent

• Open-sandwich (a traditional Danish eating style)

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In addition, they ran a battery of tests to measure not only sperm count, but also testosterone, estradiol, inhibin B, follicle-stimulating hormone, and a number of other hormones that play a role in male fertility.

As the research proved, those who followed the “prudent” eating habit had the highest testosterone levels, followed by those who kept a vegetarian-like diet.

And, not surprisingly, the Western diet was associated with the lowest total sperm count of all the participants. It was estimated that sperm count was 26 million lower than average, while those who followed the healthier diets had a sperm count 43 million higher than average.

What Kind of Foods Are We Talking About?

According to an article published by CNN [3], the Westernized diet analyzed in the study included:

• Pizza

• Sweets

• Snack foods

• Processed foods

That means chips, sodas, cookies, cakes, crackers, and anything artificial—all of which are very commonly consumed by Westerners around the country.

All of these foods led to lower sperm count in men, as compared to the healthy, natural foods consumed by those who followed the prudent or vegetarian-like diet.

What Does This Mean for Me?

The outcome of this study is pretty darned clear: what you eat will have a direct effect on your sperm count! If you want to be more fertile (and, very likely, more virile with a higher testosterone count), it’s vital that you eat a healthy diet.

In this case, healthy definitely doesn’t include anything that is highly processed, refined, or artificial. If it’s not natural, you’re better off cutting it out of your diet!

Yes, that may sound like a lot of work to cook everything from scratch, using only raw and natural ingredients. It is more work for sure, but it will also be significantly better for your health.

Think about it: if your sperm count is being negatively affected by the artificial and low-quality foods you eat, imagine what other internal functions are also being similarly affected. And this study was conducted on 19 and 20-year olds, who should have been healthy and virile. Imagine how much worse it will be for men who are older and whose bodies are no longer producing enough testosterone and other vital fertility hormones.

If you want to be a healthy, sexually active man, your diet is definitely going to play a role in that. It’s time to clean up your eating habits and get rid of anything that could harm your sexual health instead of improving it!

Resources:

[1] https://academic.oup.com/humupd/article/23/6/646/4035689

[2] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2761546

[3] https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/21/health/poor-diet-kills-sperm-quality-wellness/index.html

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