This post was originally published on October 17, 2014.
It’s long been common knowledge that women shouldn’t drink heavy amounts of alcohol when pregnant, but a new study has confirmed that men looking to procreate should be held to the same standards.
The research project from the University of Southern Denmark in Copenhagen sampled 1,221 men in the prime baby-making years (18 to 28). Participants filled out questionnaires on their drinking habits and also provided both blood and semen samples.
Men who had five units of booze (a unit being defined as either a beer, glass of wine or 40 milliliters of spirits) per week had “lower quality” semen, which was determined by criteria such as the volume, concentration and actively moving sperm. The semen quality was drastically reduced among those who had 25 units or more of alcohol each week. Those who drank 40 units a week also had a sperm concentration that was 33 percent less than those who had one to five drinks per week. Yet binge drinking the week before blood was taken resulted in no changes in either sperm or the blood levels of reproductive hormones, meaning that lower quality sperm only impacted those who drank heavily over an extended period of time. In other words, at least when it comes to semen quality, drinkers were still in the clear after a one-off bender.
“It surprised me that regular intake of even moderate alcohol had an impact on sperm count,” said Professor Tina Kold Jensen, MD, who led the study. The published findings concluded by noting that “young men should be advised that high habitual alcohol intake may affect not only their general but also their reproductive health.”
Unfortunately for former drinkers who are now sober (or those who are about to be after reading this study), the authors didn’t determine whether sperm quality can be restored in heavy drinkers. But since sperm is produced continuously over a 74-day cycle, the body does ultimately clean itself out over the course of a few months.
Other studies have also found that excess drinking and drug use can effect far more than the volume of one’s seed. Toxic chemicals from alcohol and drugs can damage sperm to the point that altered genes are passed on to babies, leading to potential symptoms such as low birth weight, birth defects and childhood cancers. Fetuses sired by males who drank excess amounts of alcohol have also been shown to have suffered abnormal organ and brain development in some cases.
“There are many potential sources of harm to fetal health that remain unexamined. When 60% of birth defects are of unknown origin, why are we not examining one obvious potential source of harm?” asked Cynthia Daniels of Rutgers University, an expert in the relationship between a father and child’s health. “If I was a young man, I would not drink beer and would not be smoking when I’m trying to conceive a child.”
The findings do make sense. If women are advised to cut out coffee and sushi for the sake of a healthy baby, it would seem bizarre that men have free reign and no potential impact on the health of their future spawn. But now that it’s been shown that a father’s lifestyle choices can have consequences on both their sperm and unborn children, it remains to be seen whether that will lead to an increase in changed behavior.
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