Washington DC: According to a new study, young male gym goers are mostly unaware of the implications of their lifestyle on their fertility.
New results from a survey of 152 gym enthusiasts, published in Reproductive BioMedicine Online found that men were largely unaware of the risks to their fertility from aspects of gym lifestyle including protein supplements, which can contain high levels of estrogen, used by 79% of male respondents.
Dr Meurig Gallagher from the University of Birmingham and lead author of the study said, "Being healthy and having a healthy lifestyle is a good thing. In the context of male fertility, the concern is over the increasing use of protein supplements. The main concern is the high levels of the female hormone estrogen that comes from both whey and soy protein supplements.
Too much female hormone can cause problems with the amount and quality of sperm that a man can produce. Many protein supplements that can be bought have been found to be contaminated by anabolic steroids, which can cause reduced sperm count, shrunken testicles, and erectile dysfunction amongst other things.
"The major finding from this study is that there is a significant lack of awareness of male reproductive health in the young adult population we surveyed. While people were aware of the problems associated with anabolic steroid use, very few understood that gym protein supplementation can have negative effects.
"It's important that people don't see this as a reason not to be healthy or get exercise - but people should try and educate themselves about any form of supplementation they take, whether that is protein, vitamins or anything else. In general, most data would suggest it's better to eat unconcentrated natural food sources of protein, as these are also less likely to be contaminated at a high level with any environmental pollutants." (with ANI inputs)
