Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought • Hacker News Board

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#681

Post by calvinmorrison » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 7:54 PM UTC

PakG1 wrote: post #406

ridgered4 wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had some fertility issues as well and while IUI and time worked for the two children we have IVF was looked into. Before the whole thing I didn't understand why people didn't just adopt. But once looking into the sky high costs and uncertainty of adoption I understood why IVF is popular. It is expensive and uncertain as well, but much less so.

Adopting is hard. I've tried to convince my wife that we should adopt because I've always wanted to adopt anyway, but she's scared I'm not taking it seriously enough. She says with adoption, you need to emotionally commit more than you would with your own blood because the natural instinct isn't there. She's scared I can't handle the responsibility and she might be scared of it too. She said we can have the talk agai…

adopting also has about a million more hoops than just having kids, and this is relatively new. My mom's cousin has a 'brother' who they adopted cause his parents died a car in a neighboring house. Well, they were of the similar age and the kid came and lived on the farm with them. I don't know if theres any legal paperwork that was even done. Probably some stamps.

now? good luck adopting without a mortgage downpayment, a clean history, good credit, references, yada yada

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#682

Post by symlinkk » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 7:54 PM UTC

No, you can’t reproduce or buy a house or find a wife or eat nutritious food. But you can get AirPods and Taco Bell delivered to your doorstep in a few hours! Isn’t modern society amazing? All of the necessities are impossible, all of the optional things are easy!

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#683

Post by SoftTalker » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 7:55 PM UTC

formerly_proven wrote: post #506

monkeynotes wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better check your plumbing because I hate to say it, PEX is everywhere and it's yet to be shown if there are long term effects on having plastic plumbing everywhere. My kitchen water tastes like plastic all the time.

PEX is fine. Water that sat in a PEX pipe is chemically indistinguishable from water held in a test tube, unlike what happens with water in PVC piping. Another indicator of fine-ness is that PE and PP tubing is used extensively in chemical process plants where high purity is required.

But the water delivered to your house probably ran through miles of PVC pipe. What's a few feet more?

I just run the water for 10 seconds or so (feel for it to get colder) before I drink.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

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Post by vladvasiliu » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 7:55 PM UTC

UglyToad wrote: post #648

Klonoar wrote: post #635

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I feel like the soy myth has been disproven time and time again but won’t die already. This and seed oils get hit with the exact same playbook, then disregard significant chunks of the world that have zero issues with them.

Yeah, like I get people maybe being wary of soy. There's a lot of mistruths and half understood myths out there. In addition to various contradictory findings from studies [0]. But for a list speaking from a position of expertise it felt quite jarring to see it included as a definitive "don't" and made me wonder about the agenda of GP (soy with respect to fertility is indelibly linked with the far-right "soyboy" meme…

> But for a list speaking from a position of expertise it felt quite jarring to see it included as a definitive "don't" and made me wonder about the agenda of GP (soy with respect to fertility is indelibly linked with the far-right "soyboy" meme).

I can see why that would make you wonder. However, a few years ago, the French TV did a take on soy and products containing derivates [0] (French only, unfortunately). It warned about possible effects on the endocrine system.

In relation to your point, there are two notable things:

1. It focused mainly on effects in females (never heard of a "soygirl" meme)

2. French TV is not affiliated with the alt-right (or any right) in any way, shape, or form. It has a reputation of being quite left-leaning. And that's by French standards.

[0] https://www.francetvinfo.fr/sante/alimentation/perturbateurs...

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#685

Post by asdff » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 7:55 PM UTC

Knufen wrote: post #514

ipdashc wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I'm missing something. On the Results in study [b], they say > Semen parameters did not seem affected by caffeine intake, at least caffeine from coffee, tea and cocoa drinks, in most studies. Conversely, other contributions suggested a negative effect of cola-containing beverages and caffeine-containing soft drinks on semen volume, count and concentration. If tea and coffee don't cause an effect, but cola and…

There is an ongoing discussion on the effect of caffein on sperm quality. There are articles which describes a possible route for DNA damage to the sperm from caffein https://www.cureus.com/articles/109365-effect-of-stress-and-... . From personal (lab) experience there is a clear difference to the smell of sperm from a coffee to a non coffee drinker, so it ends up there somehow. Whether it truly has an effect is stil…

What about pineapples?

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#686

Post by cpsns » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 7:55 PM UTC

notch656a wrote: post #325

2-718-281-828 wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll rather hang myself then going to a nursery home now and even more so in the future. I'm living a happy life and looking forward to tomorrow - and yet I am dead serious about that. I've seen enough people in those places. Did you notice that one thing you learned while growing up and maturing was that you started to notice when the party is over and it's time to leave instead of hanging on until the very dire end…

Something like 95% of suicides fail and then they'll toss you into a home or someplace terrible to keep you from doing it again.

Assisted suicide (death in friendlier terms) like we have in Canada is only going to become more permissive and other pleases will continue to adopt such laws.

In the future when people have real options this is less likely to be an issue.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#687

Post by fnordpiglet » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 7:56 PM UTC

calmdownpeople wrote: post #593

Tagbert wrote: post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caffeine has no smell so what you are detecting is some other component or effect on the semen taste. Many things can affect the taste of semen.

He said smell not taste! At least I hope he wasn't tasting the lab samples.

Just the semen.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#688

Post by SoftTalker » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 7:56 PM UTC

flanbiscuit wrote: post #606

DevX101 wrote: post #158

The thesis of the book 'Countdown' is that this is largely due to widespread plastic and other endocrine disrupting chemicals. I believe this is one of the most important risks to humanity, after climate change, and global war. So far, I've taken some lifestyle changes to combat this: 1) Threw out all of my teflon cooking pans 2) Refuse to consume food in heated plastics 3) Throw out teabags (they have plastics). Use…

> Will soon be throwing out liquid body wash and moisturizers, and replace with simpler oils What are you planning on doing? I stopped using the Dr Bronner's liquid soap and switched to the their bar soap. For a while I was using the same soap for my hair and then I was doing a "rinse" (apple cider vinegar + some oils) but I got lazy and stopped. I might pick that back up again. https://info.drbronner.com/all-one-blo…

Olive oil works nicely as a skin softener/moisturizer, as long as you don't mind smelling of olives.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

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Post by oneoff786 » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 7:59 PM UTC

skwirl wrote: post #541

UncleOxidant wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem is that a lot of people aren't in a position to have kids at 30 mainly due to economic reasons.

This common explanation never made sense. Lower income is correlated with higher fertility within the US, within every country, across the world, and (seemingly) throughout history.

Most of history is subsistence farming economies. More people means more labor. It’s a pretty good ROI. And of course, lack of contraception. Plus with kids dying you need several to reliably end up with a few when you’re old.

In an urban economy kids are largely dead weight and expensive for two decades. The middle class dual income family isn’t typically looking for 3+ kids anymore.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#690

Post by karaterobot » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 8:00 PM UTC

jimlongton wrote: post #420

karaterobot wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consumers can voluntarily reduce their exposure to phthalates AND the industry can be regulated. Regulators aren't going to save consumers if consumers refuse to get educated or practice restraint.

> Regulators aren't going to save consumers if consumers refuse to get educated or practice restraint That's literally the job of regulators, see asbestos or cancer causing pesticides that have been banned or severely restricted. Do you expect all consumers to have degrees in chemistry and read papers to make risk assessments about the 10,000s of chemicals they come into contact daily?

Nope, not saying that.

Before asbestos or cancer causing pesticides were regulated, they were perfectly fine to sell and use, but they were not in fact safe for people. In most cases, regulation lags science. In quite a few cases, things we know probably aren't safe are not regulated at all, or not sufficiently regulated. Regulation has many inputs: good science is one of them, but expediency is another, and so is corruption, and frankly so is incompetence. In any case, because the regulatory status of a substance has no relationship to whether or not it will kill you, it is safest if we have good regulation AND people do as much due diligence as they are comfortable with. Ultimately, it's your health, so you have to take responsibility for it.