In recent years some fertility experts have come out with alarming news: men today are less fertile than they were a generation ago. A French study found that the sperm counts of the men involved fell by nearly a third between 1989 and 2005, and most other European studies conducted in the last 15 years have also found significant declines in sperm count. This isn’t in older men, either: it’s in 18-25 year olds.

Reasons for this possible decrease in sperm count include lifestyle factors such as higher amounts of belly fat, marijuana use, and a sedentary lifestyle. There are also factors out of our control such as environmental pollutants such as pesticides and Bisphenol-A (BPA), as well as a mother’s diet and whether or not she smoked during pregnancy. Even the time of year the research was conducted in could affect the results of these studies.

The data may sound alarming, but many experts question the validity of these findings. Most of these studies were carried out in Europe, so the results may not be applicable to other parts of the world; developing countries in particular have not been studied at all in this context.

In addition, lower sperm counts may not necessarily mean infertility. Men generally have a sperm count of 60 million per milliliter of semen, but anything over 40 million per milliliter is sufficient for conception. It’s only when the sperm count falls below 20 million per milliliter that fertility begins to drop significantly. Studies in Northern Europe estimate that as many as 1 in 5 young men could be considered infertile by these standards, but as with the other studies on fertility, these results may not apply in other parts of the world where there are very different lifestyles and other variable factors.

So, is there truly a fertility crisis? Most studies have indeed shown that sperm counts have decreased in the last couple of decades, but whether or not the situation is truly a crisis remains up for debate.

To learn more about what you can do to promote a healthy sperm count, contact the leading urologist in Las Vegas, Dr. Michael S. Kaplan at (702) 454-6226.