A new study shows that men's sperm quality is decreasing

Researchers have assessed results of nearly 200 studies that say that sperm count among men from North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand seem to have halved in less than 40 years.

This assessment is one of the largest ever and it brings together the results of 185 studies between 1973 and 2011, involving almost 43,000 men where the findings reveal that the concentration of sperm in the ejaculate of men in western countries has fallen by an average of 1.4% a year, leading to an overall drop of just over 52%. This is a shocking result.

Dr. Levine, an epidemiologist, is worried because if men don't change the way they are living and the environment and the chemicals that they are exposed to, he doesn't know what will happen in the future. 

Too little data on male reproductive research

It is not the first time that researchers have highlighted concerns about sperm count, but previous studies have been criticised and thereby maybe not taking so seriously, but this time scientists have praised the quality of the research though it may still be too early to come to such a conclusion.

"It is a classic under the radar huge public health problem that is really neglected" Hagai Levine, lead author of the study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

This is really a seriously under-invested topic and hopefully more male reproductive research will be seen in the coming years and men will start to take responsibility for their sperm quality and well-being. 

Read the article from The Guardian, Tuesday July 25th here

Read the article from BBC News, Tuesday July 25th here