Are those little guys under threat? A new study claims that there has been a significant and continuous 32.2 percent decrease in sperm counts among French men in the last 17 years. Researchers led by Dr. Joelle Le Moal from the Institut de Veille Sanitaire published their findings in the journal Human Reproduction.
Their conclusions were based on a study of sperm counts of 26,600 healthy Frenchmen who had had their sperm tested because of their partner s infertility. (So in theory these men have no more fertility problems than the general population in France). But the researchers did not take into account the men s socioeconomic status, which can affect sperm quality, and many other possible influences were controlled for, difficult though that might be. Procedures for measuring sperm count have also improved in the past 17 years but as Jens Peter Bonde, a professor of occupational medicine at Copenhagen University Hospital, points out, Sperm counting is difficult!
The study also conflicts with a 2008 meta-analysis by Harry Fisch, MD, of Columbia concluding that sperm counts were not dropping after all, ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross notes.
ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom suggests, Maybe this is a good alternative to counting sheep for insomniacs.