Looking To Conceive? Drink Beer And Eat Meat

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Drinking a pint of beer each day can double a man’s odds of fathering children, while vegetarians and vegans have lower sperm counts than meat-eaters, according to new research presented recently at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual conference in Hawaii.

According to Sarah Knapton, Science Editor with The Telegraph, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston looked at 105 men with an average age of 37 and found that those who consumed at least 22 grams of alcohol per day were more than twice as likely to sire children through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) than those who abstained.

Each of the men was married to or in a relationship with a partner who was undergoing IVF procedures at the hospital between 2007 and 2013. Health experts claim that drinking a moderate amount of alcohol could reduce a man’s stress levels and help them conceive, Knapton added, though UK health officials currently suggest that men should not drink more than four units a day, roughly equivalent to around two pints of beer.

That same study found that that men who consumed at least two cups of strong coffee each day had just a 20 percent chance of becoming fathers through IVF, The Telegraph reported. However, the odds of conceiving increased to nearly 52 percent among men who drank less than one cup of the caffeinated beverage each day. At the conference, the study authors explained that they believe caffeine could damage sperm at a molecular level.

“High male caffeine consumption appears to reduce couples’ chance of achieving a clinical pregnancy, while male alcohol consumption appears to enhance their chances,” explained Dr. Anatte Karmon, lead author of the study and an obstetrician at Massachusetts General Hospital. The research also revealed that neither caffeine nor alcohol appeared to have an effect on the number of sperm, their shape or how well they could swim.

“I see no reason to advise couples attempting IVF to become teetotal, but they clearly need to drink alcohol sensibly and be advised that if the female partner falls pregnant she needs to stop at that point to ensure the development of the baby is not harmed,” added Dr. Allan Pacey of the University of Sheffield. “The fact that caffeine consumption in the male partner may reduce IVF outcome is intriguing and needs further exploration.”

A second study, also presented at the conference, concluded that adopting a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle could damage a man’s fertility, and the researchers found that they tended to have lower sperm counts and poorer quality sperm than other men, according to Fiona Macrae of the Daily Mail.

Dr. Eliza Orzylowska of the Loma Linda University Medical Centre in California told those in attendance that soy products eaten as a meat and dairy substitute could be the cause of the issue. She and her colleagues found that diet “significantly affects sperm quality” and that “vegetarian and vegan diets were associated with much lower sperm counts. It’s hard to tell people not to be vegetarians if they are trying to conceive, but I would caution against soy.”

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