Could Switching Your Vegetables Really DOUBLE Your Sperm Count?

Who knew that vegetables could have such an impact on fertility?

Of course, we were all already aware that eating healthier in general was better for our chances of conceiving.

Being overweight and eating lots of fatty foods contributes horrifyingly to cases of impotence and sterility.

But we weren't quite so enlightened when it comes to the knowledge that the type of fruit and vegetables consumed could play such a significant part in the amount of sperm produced.

In fact, as these Harvard scientists have discovered, eating too much of certain fruits and vegetables could actually be harmful for fertility.

It all comes down to the use of pesticides, you might not be surprised to hear.

The consumption of these chemicals has always been rumoured to be counterproductive to good health, but now we have some much more pointed information about the damage they can wreak, specific to sperm count.

The scientists from Harvard published a study in the journal of Human Reproduction, suggesting that among 338 different semen samples, collected between 2007 and 2012, those that came from men who ate at least one and half portions of vegetables or fruit containing high levels of pesticides had a sperm count that was 49 per cent lower than usual.

That's really quite a dramatic drop!

Whereas those who switched to organic fruit and vegetable, with little to no pesticide residue, saw their sperm count increase by an average of 37 per cent.

Allan Pacey, Professor of Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: “This is a very interesting paper that raises the possibility that pesticide residues in our food may be a contributory factor in male infertility, at least in some men."

There remains a suggestion that the scope of the results may be slightly skewed due to the fact that most of the men attending the clinic where the samples were taken from were there to investigate fertility issues.

This suggests that sperm counts among the test group may be lower than average on the whole.

It doesn't compeltely detract from the results though as even if the percentage drop was slightly less severe, the link between pesticides and lower sperm counts still stands.

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What do you think of this study? Let us know in the comments!