According to a new study, consuming just five drinks a week could reduce the quality of a man’s sperm. So just imagine what it’s doing to your little fellas when you slam home that many (or more) in one night?
“Our study suggests that even modest habitual alcohol consumption of more than 5 units per week had adverse effects on semen quality, although most pronounced associations were seen in men who consumed more than 25 units per week,” the authors wrote.
“Young men should be advised to avoid habitual alcohol intake.”
Ha, Good one! Oh, wait, he was serious.
The good news, I guess, is that Dr. Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield (big title, so you know he’s smart) says that you don’t have to stop drinking completely, but habitual and binge-drinking is really the concern.
“Whilst Professor Jensen’s paper found no strong evidence that binge-drinking was linked to poor semen quality, it would seem sensible advice for many other [non-reproductive] aspects of health and general wellbeing to avoid it,” Pacey added.
On the other hand, Professor Chris Barratt, professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Dundee (another big title), said, “I think the main message of this paper is clear: high levels of alcohol intake do appear to be associated with changes in sperm and semen that may affect fertility, but it is interesting to note that men who didn’t drink any alcohol at all also had reduced semen quality – this was not commented on in the paper but needs further research.”
So there you go. Science once again confusing the hell out of everyone.
Eh, I wouldn’t worry about it too much*, at least your athletic performance won’t suffer.
(*I am not a doctor.)
H/T Jezebel; Drunk man image by Shutterstock