Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Fizzy drinks and male fertility

Did you know that too many fizzy drinks may affect male fertility? A study from Denmark looked at more than 2,000 young men and investigated their diet and intake of caffeine (including fizzy cola which contains caffeine) before analysing their sperm. They found that there was no clear link between semen quality and caffeine consumption, BUT there was a link when they looked at fizzy drink consumption.

Men who drank more than 14 bottles of fizzy drinks a week (that's about a litre a day) were far more likely to have poor fertility. However, it isn't clear what the cause of this might be. Researchers say it can't be the caffeine, as getting the same amount of caffeine from coffee didn't have the same result. It could be that those who drink lots of cola have other lifestyle factors that may come into play - on the whole they were less healthy, eating less fruit, vegetables and fish and consuming more fast food and alcohol. The one thing that does emerge very clearly from the research is that lifestyle and eating habits certainly do play an important role in male fertility.

You can read the full paper here

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