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A new study has found that men who consume more soy products have lower sperm counts, especially if they are overweight.

The study, published in yesterday's online version of the journal Human Reproduction, found that men who ate the most soy food had 41 million fewer sperm per millilitre than those who did not consume soy products.

"What we found was men that had the highest intake of soy foods had a lower sperm concentration," said Jorge Chavarro of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, who led the study.

He believes this happens because soy contains isoflavones, a naturally occurring compound that can mimic the effects of estrogen.

Previous studies have linked high consumption of isoflavones with infertility in animals, but Dr. Chavarro's research is the first to show a similar effect in humans.

The study analyzed the semen of 99 men who attended a U.S. fertility clinic between 2000 and 2006. The men were asked how often they ate soy products, including tofu, tempeh, soy milk and other soy products such as ice creams, cheeses and energy bars.

The average intake of soy for those with the highest consumption levels was about half a serving a day, although some men in that group ate as many as four servings a day. (A standard serving of tofu was 115 grams.)

The researchers also found that soy food intake had the greatest impact on sperm concentrations among those who were also overweight or obese.

This may be because overweight men already have higher levels of estrogen, Dr. Chavarro said.

"It's possible that when you already have very high levels of estrogen, an additional source of an estrogen-like compound may become an issue, but not if you're a lean man," he said.

This may explain why soy does not seem to affect fertility among Asian populations, for whom it is a food staple, he said. Obesity is not as common in Asian populations as it is among Western men.

In Dr. Chavarro's study, it was not clear whether the reduction in sperm count was a factor in the subjects' fertility issues, and he believes it is too early to warn people away from soy.

"I guess if somebody already knows they have a low sperm count and they're very avid consumers of soy foods they could try stopping it, but there's no guarantee that's going to help them," he said.

Isoflavones are present in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, including black beans, peas and other legumes, but are most concentrated in soy.

The average sperm concentration for men ranges between 80 million and 120 million per millilitre. But even with reduced sperm count, men are capable of conceiving a child, said Dr. Chavarro, and soy seemed to have no other adverse effect on the sperm.

The study corrected for other factors that may affect sperm count, such as age, caffeine intake and smoking.

There have been two other studies on the connection between soy and sperm count. One, a study of 14 young men, found no change in semen quality, while the other, which followed 48 men, found that isoflavone intake had a positive effect on sperm count.

The men in Dr. Chavarro's study were predominantly white, and he plans to test the connection with different ethnic groups, as well as with larger sample sizes.

CrimsonNuker wrote:fml.

Mirosuke wrote:

CrimsonNuker wrote:fml.

What does that stands for?

and, at long it doesn't get you infertile its ok.

Frustrated victim of chain mails


Hi All,

This is a Mail from a frustrated victim of chain mails:

I wanted to thank all my friends and family who have forwarded chain
letters to me in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and continuing it
in 2009 also.

Because of your kindness:
* I stopped drinking Coca Cola after I found out that it's good for
removing toilet stains.

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infected with AIDS.

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cause cancer...

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will drug me with a perfume sample and try to rob me.

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dial a stupid number and then I get a phone bill with calls to Uganda,
Singapore and Tokyo..

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get sick from the rat faeces and urine..

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is, for fear that she will take me to a hotel, drug me, then take my
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* Still open to help some from Bulgaria who wants to use my account to
transfer his uncle's property of some hundred millions $.

* Made some Hundred wishes before forwarding those Ganesh , Tirupathi
Balaji pics etc. Now most of those 'Wishes' are already married (to
someone else)

IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you do not send this e-mail to at least 11,246 people in the next 10
seconds, a bird will SH** on your head today at 6:10pm
>
>
> Bye
> A frustrated victim

woutR wrote:Tofu tastes like shit. I guess the vegan lifestyle isn't all that great after all.

destructionmama wrote:but then I had a thought,

y would china be so populated if tofu kill sperms

asusi wrote:from today im gonna eat tofu maybe that will disgrace my addicts to "making love" lol

Icealya wrote:didn't you read your own post??

It doesn't effect the asians, because obesity is much less in asia then in western countries...

inky wrote:I'm no vegan/vegetarian but I do like tofu; I tend to see this as a positive thing - it's the new form of birth control.

antics wrote:

inky wrote:I'm no vegan/vegetarian but I do like tofu; I tend to see this as a positive thing - it's the new form of birth control.

tofu will reduce only by a bit. it only takes one little sucker to get yo women prego

interesting things about sperm:
there are 3 types of sperm
first one(this one will be the wiz) is the kind that try and get to the egg

the second one(the rogue) is like a kamikaze tries to kill other sperms i guess that arnt urs? left from some other male? idunno

thrid(the warrior tank) is the wall and wont let other sperm into the egg

so ur girlfriend can still have some sperm in her from her last bf. but then again girls clean out their "down there" every so often right before their period
/ramblerambleramble

I put on my robe and wizard hat.