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Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

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Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#671

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> here is a short list of thing to avoid > 7. Age [f] wait wat

"Avoid waiting (delaying) key life things you know you want" is actually great advice that even very smart people seem to fail to consider.

Yes. In terms of best outcomes, you should have kids in your early 20s. Gametes are at their best, mother's body is young but fully developed and has the best chance at carrying the pregnancy to term without complications.

Financially, or in terms of career and other life goals, are other matters.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#672
post #478

I did my Master Degree in Organic Chemistry where we tried to develop a male contraceptive pill. I spend a lot of time studying sperm so here is a short list of thing to avoid regarding sperm quality (not ranked): 1. Eating and drinking from plastics (This includes aluminum cans which are plastic lined) [a] 2. Heating food in ANY type of plastic [a] 3. Caffein intake [b] 4. Sugar intake [c] 5. NOT exercising regularl…

I cannot recommend highly enough having a set of glass bottles[1] at home. Fill them at the tap (or wherever), refrigerate them, take them to the gym, in the car, serve to guests. Point is to have many, keep a rotation going. Has greatly reduced reliance on plastic. 1) https://amzn.to/3H2YadV

Gyms often ban glass bottles because of the hazard they create when dropped/shattered.

I personally use a hard (i.e. not squeezable) plastic bottle, that I fill with cold/cool water just before use. As long as the water has not been sitting in the bottle for days or in the sun or in a hot car, etc. I don't think there is enough potential chemical leeching to worry about.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#673
post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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 didn't specify difference between de-caf coffee vs regular - only coffee vs non-coffee - so might be something other than caffeine that effects smell?

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#674
post #599
post #478

I did my Master Degree in Organic Chemistry where we tried to develop a male contraceptive pill. I spend a lot of time studying sperm so here is a short list of thing to avoid regarding sperm quality (not ranked): 1. Eating and drinking from plastics (This includes aluminum cans which are plastic lined) [a] 2. Heating food in ANY type of plastic [a] 3. Caffein intake [b] 4. Sugar intake [c] 5. NOT exercising regularl…

ibuprofen and acetaminophen also affect quality, which are daily medicines for some people with chronic pain.

> acetaminophen

That's paracetamol for the rest of the world in case you were confused like I was.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#675

It is interesting, I have a friend group that consists of about 5 married couples all of whom have been having issues conceiving and have been trying for a while now, but are still having issues. Curiously enough my wife and I just had our 4th and every time we've conceived within two months (even when I was hoping it would take a little longer). From what I hear our friends story is not unusual and many in our age b…

I'm a Catholic and fairly traditionally minded and am surprised by what you're saying since at my church, couples in this age range are on their fourth or fifth kid by the time they're 30. Even amongst the newest married couples, most are expecting within the first year. I understand we have different beliefs and such but since we're all in the same environment, how do we explain the simultaneous existence of the see…

Not sure why your comment is downvoted but you have a point..

The difference is that religious couples should always be open to life so in a sense they are always "trying" as contraceptives are not allowed (except for NFP) hence their chances go up. Further they are encouraged to married sooner than later sense they should abstain from sex until then.

It makes sense that younger couples having lots of sex without contraception will end up having more children than their counterparts.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#676
post #599
post #478

I did my Master Degree in Organic Chemistry where we tried to develop a male contraceptive pill. I spend a lot of time studying sperm so here is a short list of thing to avoid regarding sperm quality (not ranked): 1. Eating and drinking from plastics (This includes aluminum cans which are plastic lined) [a] 2. Heating food in ANY type of plastic [a] 3. Caffein intake [b] 4. Sugar intake [c] 5. NOT exercising regularl…

ibuprofen and acetaminophen also affect quality, which are daily medicines for some people with chronic pain.

Neither of these are safe for long-term daily use.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#677

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastic is generally defined by its mechanical and thermal properties and a dominance of polymers. There’s are lots and lots of different chemicals used as plastics today and they have wildly different chemical properties. It seems incredible to state that “all plastics” are endocrine disruptors. Many plastics are essentially chemically inert in a biological sense. In some ways DNA itself can be seen as a plastic bei…

plasticizers are a component of plastic, characterizing one ingredient in plastic as an 'additive' in order to shift the blame from plastic to plastic ingredients doesn't change the basic fact that plastics are endocrine disruptors because they leach plasticizer into food.

Just because plasticizer has the word in its name doesn’t make it plastic. Nylon, PLA, PET, ABS, these are plastics. As far as I can tell they are not endocrine disruptors, and they are polymers - aka plastics. They require no other “ingredients” and can be used in an unadulterated form for many applications.

Phthalates are monomers (aka not plastics) that are added to plastics to change physical properties of a plastic, such as flexibility, durability, make them more transparent, etc. They’re in fact derived from alcohols to my memory, and have no relationship to plastic. But they are also called plasticizers because they make plastics behave more “plastic” (in the adjective sense not the chemical sense). They are also suspected of being endocrine disruptors. But they’re not “plastic ingredients” - their use is optional and there exist alternatives.

It is in fact an important distinction. There are other plasticizers that are not biologically active that can be used in place. Or, plasticizers don’t need to be used at all. Both of these options make the plastics benign.

It’s an important distinction because plastic isn’t the problem at all, it’s the regulatory framework around plastic additives, none of which are strictly necessary and there are almost always safer alternatives. Plus it’s important to distinguish because it’s simply false to say plastics are a an endocrine disruptor when they aren’t, even if it’s convenient to get your point across.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#678

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd want to know that drinks aren't full of that stuff regardless of the end-user container material, before worrying about it. They're surely exposed to tons of plastics in the manufacturing process, including at times when various components are heated. Even water supplies in a house will typically have been in contact with plastics—at the treatment plant, in the house for any modern house (they're pretty much all…

> ever start with a hot tap for water you're gonna boil? I've been told I shouldn't do this, so I don't, but I always feel like a rube waiting for a big pot of pasta water to boil from cold when I know I could have just used my giant tank of heated water and save 10 minutes of waiting...

That's due to old-fashioned plumbing. Wayyy back in the day when water networks were fairly new they often couldn't provide the water pressure we have now, especially in hilly areas. It was fine for cold water, but not enough to pressurise a hot water tank.

The solution was a header tank in the attic. This stored water from the supply and fed it down to the hot water cylinder, providing some pressure.

The problem is the header tanks weren't a sealed system so animals could make their way in. In particular when using rodent control poison as this makes them seek water. Generally it'd be noticed pretty quickly, but not immediately.

So the hot water was generally safe for washing but shouldn't be used for drinking or cooking.

With modern closed systems (from the 70s onwards really) this isn't an issue.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#679

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…

I use Lush soaps and solid bar shampoos. The shampoos actually work better for my hair than liquid shampoos and they're so convenient to travel with!

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#680
post #156

My wife and I have a beautiful daughter about to turn 2. But she wouldn't have existed if it weren't for IVF (in vitro fertilization). Had to stab her stomach with needles for a while to make hormones to mass produce eggs and then they took my sperm to put into her eggs and see which ones took. Five viable pairings happened. Three were put into her and out came the one kid. Other two are in cryo for future use, and h…

This and go out and vote for politicians who keep IVF legal and expand protections for it.
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