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Falling sperm counts, declining egg quality, and endocrine disruptors

nytimes.com

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Re: Falling sperm counts, declining egg quality, and endocrine disruptors

#441

Post by jonplackett »

wonder_er wrote: post #378
tzone wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weight loss and proper exercise will probably deliver 99% of the improvements for 99% of the people. Stressing about heat, radiation, micro plastics, or other random stuff seems like extra stress for not that much benefit. Most people in Western world are either out of shape, or straight up obese. It makes sense that, that will have huge negative effects on fertility.

In some communities, weight gain is a down-stream effect of "metabolic syndrome", and the "solution" isn't to count calories or exercise more - it's to simply eat _differently_. Sugar is a particularly odious contributor to problems. Like OP, my wife and I also struggled with infertility for a few years (two miscarriages, years of doing everything "right", and not getting pregnant.) We're finally pregnant, and out of…

Really glad to hear you got pregnant. It makes me so happy now when people do after finding it so hard. It’s a shame this info isn’t more easily found by most people.

I had the exact same experience with doctors just saying there was nothing a man can do to improve fertility. “It’s just genetic”.

I also second the case against sugar. I should have called out refined sugar specifically in my list. That was one thing I cut out 100% even in ingredients lists (this is tough. It’s in EVERYTHING. Even loads of savoury things that have zero business having sugar in).

Side pondering - I’ve often wondered if McDonalds got a really raw deal from Super Size Me (great documentary) and that it was just the super size soft drinks that were the cause of problems - remember the guy in there who has eaten thousands of Big Macs? But he never had the drink. And he was thin as a rake (dunno how many kids he had though!)

Re: Falling sperm counts, declining egg quality, and endocrine disruptors

#442

Post by giantg2 »

M5x7wI3CmbEem10 wrote: post #404
giantg2 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there have been numerous studies showing that the radio frequencies (radiation) used by cell phones and wifi are correlated (maybe causative, but not 100% sure) to reduced sperm count and quality. This is especially true when you have your phone in your pocket or your laptop on your lap. Stuff like wifi and cellphones were not a thing in the past. There just weren't many consumer RF products a generation or two…

what’s the solution? cabin in the woods and commute to work, fewer IoT devices, keep phone out of pocket, and?

All I do is schedule wifi to turn off when I am typically sleeping, phone out of pocket when home, phone on speaker when using it, and I don't really have any IoT devices.

I'm not saying everyone should do this, but that's what I do.

Re: Falling sperm counts, declining egg quality, and endocrine disruptors

#443

Post by irscott »

greenonions wrote: post #429
calvinmorrison wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Some of this bias may be for good intentions (allowing less fertile couples to conceive) while some may have questionable outcomes (selection based purely on socioeconomic status)." First let's not anthropomorphize nature, or natural selection. But secondly, in 1st world countries, the more money you make, the less likely you are to have kids! We've done a terrible job at incentivizing couples to have kids since wom…

Shocking to think that our society would discount the future for the present... On a serious note however, babies and a growing population is an enormous advantage to a nation. I would think it would be massively popular to increase benefits to those who are having children. Full disclosure, I found out my wife is pregnant yesterday, but still.

Hey congratulations!

Re: Falling sperm counts, declining egg quality, and endocrine disruptors

#444

Post by forgetfulness »

pb7 wrote: post #425
airhead969 wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Confused? No. She passed herself off as that, acted, and looked the part completely. Size D. Extreme precocious puberty. You would've been fooled too, so please don't judge with perfect knowledge and 20/20 hindsight from afar if you weren't there.

> acted I have a very hard time believing a 12 year old can pass as a 19 year old in maturity. What knowledge or experience can a 12 year old offer to a mid 20s individual to appear intelligent, as you claim? > You would've been fooled too Zero chance. In my mid 20s, I already considered 19 year olds to be far too removed in life stages to consider seriously and the maturity gap between a 12 year old and an 19 year o…

Charitably, maybe our colleague here has some type of personality or even neurological disorder that would allow him to, earnestly, bond with a 12 year old as a partner rather than a child acquaintance.

A disorder that he should get treated because that poses a danger to others and, eventually, himself.

Given the astonishing justifications he gives I'd say his psych and he have a lot of work ahead.

Re: Falling sperm counts, declining egg quality, and endocrine disruptors

#445

Post by giantg2 »

BunsanSpace wrote: post #360
giantg2 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there have been numerous studies showing that the radio frequencies (radiation) used by cell phones and wifi are correlated (maybe causative, but not 100% sure) to reduced sperm count and quality. This is especially true when you have your phone in your pocket or your laptop on your lap. Stuff like wifi and cellphones were not a thing in the past. There just weren't many consumer RF products a generation or two…

Non ionizing radiation doesn't have an effect on our bodies unless it's very high energy e.g. you're right next to a high powered transmitter (radio tower).

That's not exactly true. VHF can cause ocular issues due to heat buildup under the right circumstances. You can have this issue with extended use at relatively low power (<100 watts) if the distance is close (think ham sitting next to their antenna).

Re: Falling sperm counts, declining egg quality, and endocrine disruptors

#446

Post by cblconfederate »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #210

Correct me if I'm wrong but being overweight or obese is an endocrine disruptor. Such conditions exist in what ~50%+ of USA adults. Worse there are children growing up who are effectively unhealthy from age 5 forward. Add in other disruptors (e.g., chemicals) and naturally there are going to be problems; problems despite the narrative, are not due to the healthcare system.

This is not limited to US men, similar pattern everywhere in western world

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sperm-count-dropp...

Re: Falling sperm counts, declining egg quality, and endocrine disruptors

#447

Post by giantg2 »

wittyreference wrote: post #332
giantg2 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Do you have some references?" Here's one of many if you google. https://natural-fertility-info.com/study-wi-fi-laptop-comput... "Are you sure you're not mixing up heat and radiation here?" I'm not. If you look at my other statements in my comment, you will see that distance plays an important part in RF exposure. Energy dissipates rapidly and is generally minimal beyond 6' when we are talking about sub-watt consumer…

> Here's one of many if you google. https://natural-fertility-info.com/study-wi-fi-laptop-comput ... So, a quick rebuttal to this trash blog post recounting a trash publication. This is a cut-and-paste from a real rebuttal (Dore & Chignol, Fertility & Sterility, 2012), transcribed here for easy browsing. Link at the end: "We think that the evidence presented in this article cannot support the claim that the observed…

Plenty of info to choose from here instead of reading trash rebuttals that didn't attempt the replicate the study with the controls they are complaining about.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=cell+phone+sperm+count

Re: Falling sperm counts, declining egg quality, and endocrine disruptors

#448

Post by giantg2 »

SigmundA wrote: post #296
giantg2 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Do you have some references?" Here's one of many if you google. https://natural-fertility-info.com/study-wi-fi-laptop-comput... "Are you sure you're not mixing up heat and radiation here?" I'm not. If you look at my other statements in my comment, you will see that distance plays an important part in RF exposure. Energy dissipates rapidly and is generally minimal beyond 6' when we are talking about sub-watt consumer…

Here is another later study that shows no correlation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5303122/ There is a lot of speculation and no confirmed mechanism for a milliwatt microwave transmitter to damage human sperm. Would you be worried about a blinking led light near you? Thats the power levels we are dealing with and the visible light has much higher photon energy closer to ionizing being in the terahert…

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=cell+phone+sperm+count

Re: Falling sperm counts, declining egg quality, and endocrine disruptors

#450

Post by dahfizz »

greenonions wrote: post #429
calvinmorrison wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Some of this bias may be for good intentions (allowing less fertile couples to conceive) while some may have questionable outcomes (selection based purely on socioeconomic status)." First let's not anthropomorphize nature, or natural selection. But secondly, in 1st world countries, the more money you make, the less likely you are to have kids! We've done a terrible job at incentivizing couples to have kids since wom…

Shocking to think that our society would discount the future for the present... On a serious note however, babies and a growing population is an enormous advantage to a nation. I would think it would be massively popular to increase benefits to those who are having children. Full disclosure, I found out my wife is pregnant yesterday, but still.

You want to encourage reproduction? Sounds incredibly homophobic to me. I'm going to call your employer and complain about you.

/s

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