Are we in a Sperm Epidemic?

Today while browsing my favorite webbed site (LinkedIn)* I ran across a post promoting the launch of a new “men’s preconception health brand“, TIES™, focused on providing supplements for male fertility.

My first instinct was joy. So much pressure is put on women to take tests, vitamins, sit upside down. etc, in order to become pregnant, while little consideration is put on men’s sperm til repeated failures. It’s all very King Henry VIII of England. No more! Time to put pressure on men too. (Extreme pressure and anxiety is an important stepping stone to parenthood – right?)

Therefore, I decided to do my due diligence. And figured I’d make a funny blog post about it.

But it’s not as silly as I thought.

Yes, the doomsday sperm count storyline comes from a sensational paper published in 1992 that declared,

🙶There has been a genuine decline in semen quality over the past 50 years🙷

This article has thousands of citations from research both supporting and discrediting this claim – more than we can dive into in a little ol blog post like this.

The lowdown

The way semen is measured has changed over the years, and the degree to which people are observing “semen quality” varies wildly. No one study has been periodically and intentionally harvesting and observing semen from general population groups for the past 50 years.

The reality is: we don’t have enough historical data to make a reasonable comparison

And even if sperm concentration has declined to the extent referenced in the Human Reproduction Update, the infertility guidelines set by the WHO still puts levels safely over the “fertile” threshold. Further, “sperm concentration” itself is not the only factor in fertility.

All that being said:

Human Fertility is definitely on the decline

In the image above, the horizontal dashed line represents “replacement Total Fertility Rate”, or the rate of fertility needed to hold the current population steady (excluding migration). Logically, this rate is generally 2.1 (ie, 2 kids per couple). But in 2022 (signified by the vertical line) the Global Burden of Diseases found that many regions are already below this rate.

How much of this can be blamed on infertility vs systemic issues is something that people are working to figure out.

We know that environmental factors can affect infertility, such as exposure to toxins, smoking, illness, and above all, oxidative stress. There’s also emerging studies finding that microplastics can affect fertility levels.

In a different study with the same researchers who published the sensational 1992 paper, they also declared “Air-conditioned environments do not prevent deterioration of human semen quality during the summer“.

Not to get all env-sci over here…but wouldn’t that make a great case for battling global warming? Congresspeople please think of the semen!?

Conclusion

What in tarnation was this post supposed to be about? aH yes…semen.

My final verdict in all this: so many things are fucked up, everyone is stressed and drowning in microplastics. Here’s a fun article arguing industrialization has crushed the human spirit forever.

Therefore:

Working to reduce oxidative stress in your body is a good idea for everyone

That includes lessening your actual stress levels, yoga/mediation, more fresh foods, and vitamins (if your doctor says they are ok).

Just don’t overspend on something pricey because it’s got fancy marketing attached! The brand that inspired this post? Sells their vitamins at $80USD/month. Just find a reputable brand selling similar supplements (folate, B12, Zinc, Vitamin C, D & E) and you are good!

What do you think about the future of humanity, sperm quality, or vitamins? Let me know in the comments!

* I’m being ironic, my job makes me use LinkedIn and that webbedsite is giving me oxidative stress. I’m ready to demand financial compensation