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Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

today.tamu.edu

11–20 of 185 posts

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#11
I've got a couple of questions about this. Maybe they were covered in the paper but I couldn't see the link? Let me know if I missed it.

1. What do they mean by "changes in sperm?" What are they actually measuring here?

2. Is there previous evidence that these changes in sperm are linked to FAS, or are we extrapolating from the known effects of motherly drinking?

3. They say 3-4 beers a couple times a week is enough to notice the changes, but do we know how big that change is and if heavier drinking leads to A) higher incidence of FAS or B) worse outcomes of FAS?

Anyway, wish me luck. I'm expecting a baby now since 6 weeks ago after becoming an alcoholic during the Corona period. I "only" drink one to two beers per evening but I'm sure that more than covers the case of "moderate drinking." I experience withdrawl when I go even only one day so I'm sure there's some effect for sure.

Right now I'm hoping for the best and hoping the power of good socialisation can trump any hopefully small damage I've already done to my child's brain.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#13
post #2

> He also noted that it doesn’t take excessive alcohol use ... > “In the models we’re using, even drinking three to four beers after work several days a week can induce [bad stuff for sperm],” Golding said. “You may not feel inebriated, but your body is going through chemical changes.” Vs. the CDC's current upper limit for "moderate" male drinking is 2 drinks/day, and they're very quick to specify that "a" beer is at…

alcoholism is a particularly harsh curse in the North of Europe!

A tourist went to Edinburgh Scotland for the holidays. So much whiskey and pub life all around. Herbal tea in hand, the tourist said "wow, its hard to get used to how much drinking there is here!" and the reply from a friendly local "hey this is nothing, you should see the Irish! they are certainly the worst drinkers". SO the tourist moved along to the big city Hamburg, where money is obvious and the ships are as large as anything in the world. In downtown bars, the working class and the financiers are all taking their fill. The tourist after going to the gym says "Germans in Hamburg seem to drink quite seriously" and a well-dressed local said "oh this is nothing, the Russians! the Russians are the worst drinkers by far" .. so the fast International train is waiting in the big Hamburg station, and the tourist goes to Copenhagen, land of the Little Mermaid and Christiana bike shops. Obviously beer is the fifth food group, and red noses are common. The tourist makes the same observation at the town square. A local replies "oh yes, Denmark loves their beer, but the Norwegians ! what a sight, they are certainly the worst alcoholics overall"

The tourist walked over an empty package of cigarettes and said "they are all a bunch of tankards to me"

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#14
post #2

> He also noted that it doesn’t take excessive alcohol use ... > “In the models we’re using, even drinking three to four beers after work several days a week can induce [bad stuff for sperm],” Golding said. “You may not feel inebriated, but your body is going through chemical changes.” Vs. the CDC's current upper limit for "moderate" male drinking is 2 drinks/day, and they're very quick to specify that "a" beer is at…

I would say that 3-4 beers several times a week is allot of alcohol. It is an amount where I would definitely start to think that ones life would be degraded in certain ways by the amount of alcohol consumed. Where I live the recommendations are that people that drink 10 or more units of alcohol per week should be provided support from the healthcare system to reduce their drinking.

Exactly. Maybe I’m just a lightweight, but 4 beers is into ‘drunk’ levels for me. Doing that 2 or 3 times a week? Of course that’s going to have health impacts.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#15
post #2

> He also noted that it doesn’t take excessive alcohol use ... > “In the models we’re using, even drinking three to four beers after work several days a week can induce [bad stuff for sperm],” Golding said. “You may not feel inebriated, but your body is going through chemical changes.” Vs. the CDC's current upper limit for "moderate" male drinking is 2 drinks/day, and they're very quick to specify that "a" beer is at…

>Vs. the CDC's current upper limit for "moderate" male drinking is 2 drinks/day, and they're very quick to specify that "a" beer is at most 12 oz. of 5% ABV (or 8 oz. of 7% ABV, or ...). One 16 oz. pint of 7.5% is two drinks.

Doing maths when drunk is fun, and the cdc be damned. Nobody understands the difference between one drink, and two drinks = one drink, as well. We all work in pints and litres. What damage/ fun is a 500ml of 9% beer costing me? Half a pint of 4.8%? Nobody asks for 8oz of beer. Do they......?

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#16

Am I missing something - what negative effects are there? > "I need to program the offspring to be able to adapt to that kind of environment" What does this mean?

Seems to be suggesting that FAS is some kind of adaptation. I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure that FAS is an adverse effect, rather than a response.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#18

Am I missing something - what negative effects are there? > "I need to program the offspring to be able to adapt to that kind of environment" What does this mean?

the_sleaze9 asks "what negative effects are there?"

The partner one chooses: after 4 beers one may mate with anyone having a appropriately-matching part!

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#19
“Oh, we are living in an environment that has a really strong oxidative stressor in it. I need to program the offspring to be able to adapt to that kind of environment”

Wow. Just wow. And people are surprised why it’s so easy to make people categorically distrust “science”. These “researchers” have no sense of academic integrity.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#20
post #2

> He also noted that it doesn’t take excessive alcohol use ... > “In the models we’re using, even drinking three to four beers after work several days a week can induce [bad stuff for sperm],” Golding said. “You may not feel inebriated, but your body is going through chemical changes.” Vs. the CDC's current upper limit for "moderate" male drinking is 2 drinks/day, and they're very quick to specify that "a" beer is at…

in northern culture, the CDC's recommendation is laughable. Excessive drinking is a regular thing where its cold

Maybe for you. Moving to Finland and seeing that a six pack cost as much as a month's worth of breakfast was all the motivation I needed to kick the stuff.
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