Dairy may affect male fertility

Thanks to advances in medical science, people can now benefit from a range of fertility treatments. For example, individuals can approach sperm banks to help them conceive.

As well as using services like these, individuals often make lifestyle changes when they are attempting to have children. For example, diet is thought to affect male fertility in a number of ways.

Research conducted recently by a team from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston suggested that cheese can harm men’s fertility. They suggested that young men who consume more than three slices of these dairy products per day could harm their chances of becoming a father. Meanwhile, it was not only cheese that was identified as problematic.

The team suggested that cream, ice cream and full-fat milk can all have a similar effect.

They looked at the diets of 189 men aged 19 to 25, none of whom were overweight. Those who ate three portions of dairy per day were found to have a lower sperm quality compared with those who did not.

A portion counted as one ounce of cheese, a teaspoon of cream, a scoop of ice cream or glass of full-fat milk.

According to Myriam Afeiche, who led the study, the female hormone oestrogen that is present in milk may be affecting men’s fertility.

She stated: “While it has been suggested that full-fat dairy products may negatively affect semen quality, very few studies have actually examined this question directly. The association could be attributed to the high levels of naturally occurring reproductive hormones in commercial dairy products.

“It is also possible that the presence of other compounds in dairy such as pesticides, chlorinated pollutants and heavy metals could account for this relation.”

Anyone who is concerned about their ability to conceive can visit fertility clinics to get checked out and to receive treatments if necessary.