Cell phone use can negatively impact sperm quality. The more often a man calls, texts or surfs the internet, the lower the quality of his sperm, according to new Swiss research. Men who use their mobile phone more than twenty times a day have about a fifth less sperm per milliliter of ejaculate than men who use their mobile phone a maximum of five times a day. This indirectly reduces fertility.
However, high cell phone use had no effect on sperm motility and morphology, as shown in the study published Wednesday in the journal ‘Fertility and Sterility’.
The world’s largest study on this topic
Researchers from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and the University of Geneva (Unige) analyzed the semen of 2,886 men aged 18 to 22 who were recruited into the military corps between 2005 and 2018, the two institutions said . The young men were given a questionnaire about their lifestyle, health status and how often they use their mobile phone. They were also asked where they put their device when they were not using it.
This is the world’s largest study on this subject, co-author Martin Röösli of Switzerland’s TPH told the Keystone-SDA news agency. “The question has not been taken seriously in science until now,” says Röösli. However, the data on which the new study was based was originally collected for a different analysis. The research should therefore be seen as a first step, says Röösli. Further research is necessary to make more reliable statements.
Cell phone radiation as a factor
According to the announcement from Unige and Swiss TPH, analysis of the data also indicated that the phone storage location is not associated with poorer sperm quality. According to Röösli, the number of people who indicate in the study that they do not carry their mobile phone close to the body is too small to make firm statements about this.
The study also found that the effect of high mobile phone use diminished over the study period. The researchers explain this with the transition of transmission technology from 2G to 3G and later to 4G. “Mobile phone reception has improved over time, meaning less radiation is needed,” Röösli explains.
According to Röösli, this result suggests that cell phone radiation could be responsible for the loss of sperm concentration. “But it would also be possible that other factors, such as lifestyle, could have distorted the results,” he said.
Sperm quality has declined over the past fifty years
The problem does not only exist in Switzerland. Numerous studies in other countries have shown that sperm quality has declined over the past fifty years, as Unige and the Swiss TPH wrote. Experts believe that this phenomenon is due to a combination of environmental factors (endocrine disruptors, pesticides, radiation) and behavioral factors (diet, alcohol, stress, smoking).
Source: Krone
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