Liz
is works as a journalist at WTSP (Tampa Bay, Florida). This
article was originally published in https://www.wtsp.com/
You’ve
probably heard of someone who struggled with infertility.
Maybe you even know a couple who had treatment to help them
have a baby.
Fertility
issues are pretty common, and new research shows we could
actually be on the brink of a fertility crisis.
Dr.
Shanna Swan, an environmental and reproductive epidemiologist
at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, found sperm counts
have plummeted over the last four decades.
FACES
OF INFERTILITY
The
journey into parenthood has been long and tedious for Cyndel
and Chris Surdovel.
They
started trying to have a baby four years ago when they were
both in their late twenties. They struggled to try to conceive
and resorted to in-vitro fertilization. They experienced several
failed treatments and a miscarriage.
"When
you decide you’re ready to start a family and it doesn’t
happen, it starts to become this obsession, and then you just
kind of lose the joy of your everyday life," Cyndel Surdovel
said.
The
Surdovels were diagnosed with “unexplained infertility,”
when doctors can't determine the specific reason a couple
is struggling to conceive.
"Twenty
percent of the couples we see on average have what we call
unexplained infertility," said Dr. Celso Silva, the Medical
Director at Shady Grove Fertility and Surdovels' doctor.
Infertility
is on the rise with at least one in 10 couples struggling
to get pregnant in the United States.
"Age
is a major factor as far as the reproductive potential of
any couple, the age of the female partner," Silva said.
According
to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,
advanced maternal age refers to women age 35 and older. The
term is intended to highlight the increased risk of complications
that can occur such as difficulty conceiving, miscarriage
and birth defects.
MORE
THAN AGE
The
age factor is pretty well known, especially among women who
seem to be reminded of their "ticking clock" from
relatives, friends, or strangers at some point in their lives.
However,
new research shows infertility rates could be rising because
sperm counts are dropping.
"All
we can say is it has significantly declined with no indication
that the rate is slowing down," said Swan, a reproductive
epidemiologist who spent years studying male sperm counts.
Her
research found sperm counts have dropped by half in the last
four decades. In 1973, the average ejaculate had 99 million
sperm per milliliter. By 2011, the average ejaculate had 47
million sperm per milliliter.
"It’s
not just the number of sperm. They have to be shaped well,"
explained Swan, who described the upstream swim sperm have
to travel for conception to occur.
In
her new book, Count Down, Swan says based on the
current curve, sperm counts could be down to zero by 2045.
LIFESTYLE
FACTOR
There
are already a number of habits researchers have long established
that deplete one's sperm count.
Swan
says certain occupations, like people who manufacture pesticides,
have been shown to have zero sperm along with men who work
with lead.
Other factors contributing to low sperm counts include smoking,
binge drinking, obesity and stress.
"The
number of stressful events you’ve had in just the last
couple months lower sperm count," Swan said.
UNKNOWN
VARIABLES
Here's
where things get a little doomsday on us.
Swan
hypothesizes other factors that we aren't tracking are leading
to an eventual fertility crisis.
She
said, "While you can ask people how much they smoke or
what drugs they take, you can’t do that with environmental
exposures."
Swan
believes chemicals from plastics are getting into our bodies,
impacting our hormones and ultimately interfering with our
reproductive functions. Phthalates are the culprit. Remember
that word. Phthalates are chemicals in plastics that lower
the bodies’ testosterone.
So
how do phthalates get in our bodies?
Swan
says they're everywhere. Any food product that is passed through
a soft tube in the manufacturing process has likely absorbed
harmful chemicals that could creep into our bodies.
"If
you eat unprocessed food, particularly, if you can afford
it, organic food, then you are avoiding a lot of exposure,"
Swan said.
However,
it's not just food. Swan said creams, nail polishes, fragrances
and other health, beauty and cleaning products are oozing
with phthalates.
In
regards to sperm counts, much of the damage is done when a
male is forming inside the mother's uterus.
Swan
said the chemicals get into a woman's body, then into the
testicles of the fetus and change development.
"When
that child becomes old enough to have sperm, they’ll
have a low sperm count and be infertile," she said.
SLOW
THE CURVE
While
changing our eating habits and being intentional about what
products we use might help slow the curve, Swan says it's
not enough.
She
said we need entirely new products made of safer materials.
It will take government intervention.
"They
have to be made of different chemicals. Chemicals that can’t
interfere with our hormones," she said.
It’s
a call to action many couples, like the Surdovels, who spent
years trying to conceive, can get behind.
