by Paola Fanutti

Created on: August 25, 2009

Up until relatively recently, fertility and conception problems were viewed strictly as a "female deficiency." While women may be responsible for carrying a baby to term, men play a 50% role in conception, and are responsible for up to
40% of infertility problems in couples.

And although women typically worry about increasing their chances of fertility and slowing the ticking of their biological clock, quite seldom do men discuss infertility with their doctors. Yet they should. A man's sperm production and healthy sperm count is clearly volatile and is influenced by his diet, alcohol and tobacco consumption, weight, exposure to chemicals, drugs, injury, and illness. According to

"The Disappearing Male: Male Infertility", the current average sperm count of a North American college student, that is a male in his fertility prime, is shockingly less than half of what it was 50 years ago.

Consuming four or more drinks in one sitting (binge drinking) is linked to serious health problems, some of which affect fertility. While college age males may not consider the long term repercussion of binge drinking on their fertility, regularly exceeding this alcohol consumption limit impacts male fertility in negative ways.

SPERM PRODUCTION, MOTILITY AND COUNT

Alcohol can disrupt and reduce testosterone levels in males that are necessary for healthy sperm production. Alcohol can also interfere with proper sperm development. C Health states that in fact, even in optimal circumstances, only 50 to 70% of sperm are healthy enough to fertilize a female egg, and it takes three months for healthy sperm to develop. Excessive alcohol consumption causes sperm abnormalities in size and shape and deformities in sperm tails, which decrease the sperm's motility, its free swimming ability.EW56Bhttp://www.sharedjourney.com/malediagno sis/drugs_and_alcohol.htmlWH6PDZ6EFP

Drinking also increases estrogen levels in males. Excessive estrogen and hormonal imbalances can lead to testicular atrophy, which causes testicles to diminish in size and eventually lose their function. Gynecomastia, enlarged mammary glands in males may result from elevated estrogen caused by excessive drinking. Another estrogen related negative side effect in males is a low sex drive (terrible for conceiving couples!)

Alcohol is toxic not only to sperm quality, but to sperm quantity as well. Alcohol can disrupt sperm production which in turn also reduces the quantity of sperm produced. A healthy ejaculate

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