Intelligent Men, Superior Sperm
New research shows intelligent men produce a higher quality sperm, but scientists said women having problems conceiving shouldn’t question their partner’s intelligence.
The new research is published in the journal Intelligence.
Lead researcher Rosalind Arden of Kings College London said men who aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed should not worry about their ability to father children.
"This is scientifically interesting, but unimportant in terms of people’s likelihood of conception or fertility," she said.
Scientists are looking for a "fitness factor," a link between characteristics of the mind and body like intelligence, height, attractiveness, resistance to disease, and mental stability.
Several studies have shown that taller people tend to be smarter, providing some support to this idea.
Arden and her colleagues wanted to measure if sperm quality and intelligence we also connected.
"We were particularly interested in sperm quality because sperm quality seems to be such a commonsense measure of what evolutionary people call fitness, which means the likelihood of surviving and having children," she explained.
They studied 425 Vietnam era veterans who endured intelligence testing and sperm quality measurements between the ages of 31 and 44.
The researchers calculated intelligence by looking at the men’s results on five different tests. They then compared this "intelligence factor" to the men’s sperm concentration, sperm count and sperm motility.
Researchers found intelligence increased with each of the three measures of sperm quality. The relationship remained statistically significant even after accounting for the potential effects of age, cigarette smoking, body mass index, alcohol consumption and sexual abstinence.
According to Arden, a "fitness factor" should not be interpreted to mean that only the genes of the very handsomest, smartest, and tallest would be passed through the generations.
"Throughout history, as far as we know it, most men and women have ended up having some children," she noted. "It’s the people who are at least average and a little bit above average who tend to have more children.
"It’s not necessarily that women are going to favor men who are going to be rocket scientists, fantastically intelligent, fantastically cool," Arden added. "They might just say, ‘I’d rather not have the guy who has a whole suite of unpleasant characteristics, I’d rather have the guy who is at least average."
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