Drinking just five units of alcohol every week could reduce the quality of a man’s sperm, research suggests.
And the more alcohol consumed, the weaker the quality of the sperm, the study found.
Men of a reproductive age should be advised to steer clear of habitual drinking, the authors said.
The study, published in the journal BMJ Open, examined 1,200 Danish male military recruits between the ages of 18 and 28, all of whom underwent a medical examination between 2008 and 2012.
As part of the assessment they were asked about their drinking habits and invited to provide sperm and blood samples.
The average number of units drunk in the preceding week was 11.
They found that drinking alcohol in the previous week was linked to changes in reproductive hormone levels, with the effects increasingly noticeable the more alcohol consumed.
Testosterone levels rose while sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) fell, they found. Almost half said the quantity of alcohol drunk in the preceding week was typical of their normal weekly consumption.
Among this group of men, researchers found that the higher the tally of weekly units, the lower was the sperm quality in terms of sperm count and the proportion of sperm that were of normal size and shape.
The effects were evident in those who drank five or more units a week and most apparent in those who drank 25 units or more.
Source: Ella Pickover, Irish Examiner, 03/10/14
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