Male Factor

Male Offspring of Assisted Reproduction Less Fertile I was born in the wake of the DES prescriptions. My mom was certain that she did not take this pills while pregnant with me, though she says that she was taking many pills a day to try to prevent from miscarrying me. As I got older the studies came out about the compromised fertility of DES daughters. The guilt that these moms had was huge in all of the interviews that I read. But given the choice between being alive and being infertile, I would think that most women would choose their own life. Hopefully both the moms and daughters were able to come to terms with their situations. I felt that the… [more]

Obesity, Illness Speed Testosterone Decline Testosterone levels in men decline with age. But are there other factors that influence this decline? That is what researchers from the New England Research Institutes wanted to find out. And they did identify other variables besides age involved with the hormone. To better understand how much of the decline in testosterone over time is due to aging and how much might be related to health and lifestyle changes, the researchers looked at data for 1,667 men 40 to 70 years old followed from 1987-1989 to 2002-2004. They were able to gather data for the entire time period on 35 percent, or 584, of the men. Sharper declines in testosterone occurred among men who developed a chronic illness… [more]

Men Who Want Children Should Skip the Hot Tub Dr. Paul Turek was noticing that many of the infertile couples that he treated were unaware of the dangers of hot tub and hot bath use in regards to sperm quality and production. Upon doing some research, he found that not many statistics were published on this rumor to be passed along to his patients. He and his team decided to do their own study to see what they could find out. In the study they used 11 men who had an average age of 36 and were infertile. The men were regular hot tub users. They studied sperm quality before the tub use and after. They contined the study for 3 months. Their results weren't surprising, but… [more]

So, we all seem to know that if you want to be a Mommy, the best odds are when your weight is at the normal range. And then our ages plays a factor. For quite a while it seemed like Daddy's to be didn't have much to worry about. But now that doesn't seem to be the case. HA! HA! Sorry, just had to let that out. It is fun to not take all of the blame. Obese Couples Have Tougher Time Having Babies If both the man and woman were obese, their chances of having to wait longer than a year before the woman became pregnant were nearly three times higher than for couples of normal weight, the… [more]

According to a study that is quoted at www.lifescript.com, a first time father's age has a correlation to the health outcome of his baby, if the man is over 40 years old. According to research published in a recent issue of the journal Epidemiology, babies born to middle-aged dads are more likely to experience weakened health than babies born to men in their 20s. Danish researchers looked at data from more than 70,000 live births between 1980 and 1996. Their results indicated that first-time fathers between 45-49 years of age were more likely to have infants who suffered from weakened heart rate and respiration, poor reflexes, and below-average skin and muscle tone. Of course, now new studies are planned to see what else can be learned in this relationship of paternal age… [more]

Male Infertility Research on Verge of Breakthrough The experiment marks the first time that stem cells have been used to produce mature sperm in the laboratory setting. Infertility problems plague an estimated one-sixth of couples worldwide, with nearly half of those cases related to male infertility. Researchers believe that the experiment could lead to treatments in which healthy sperm cells are produced out of stem cells harvested from infertile men. I'm not going to put forth my opinion of stem cell research in this blog, but I am going to say that this article is interesting in many ways. First of all, it lead my husband and I to actually look up the definition of "stem cell". According to www.about.com, Definition… [more]

I decided this week to devote a little bit of time to dads and dads-to-be. I thought that I would do some blog reading on infertility from the male perspective. I couldn't find one during the small amount of searching that I did. I did find a really interesting article from a dad who suffered with his wife through their infertility woes and then go on to have a daughter and then some! "Life to Music" by Mark Stackpole www.DadsToday.com Anyway, I'm laughing my you know what off after reading this piece. He talks about his life in terms of a soundtrack and which songs play at certain times. I'll give you one guess as to which song he chose when… [more]

Koreans are big into the whole "let medicine be your food" thing. When you're sick, you're likely to get a chicken soup that has a whole chicken stuffed with ginseng sitting at your doorstep. I got into the habit of using dried sticks this tongue-depressor-shaped herb called whang ki (they are sliced this way--the actual herb bush is shown in the picture) to stir my tea because, as all the herbalists and relatives were telling me, "It's good for you." I liked it because it has the added advantage of adding a sweet flavor without sugar, and it was like a biodegradeable swizzle stick. Later, back in the states, I was surprised to see that Dr. Andrew Weil, a very mainstream nutrition and… [more]

My sister was just visiting, and she suggested the TV remote as a possible icon for MAN FERTILITY, and my husband was a good sport, as we insisted we need a "hairy arm" for the picture, and posed for the picture. Now, not only an environmental historian, but hand model, too. Wow! The glass of beer was a nice idea while it lasted, but I recently found out that alcohol can diminish male fertility, so that's not an appropriate icon. I think we are down to the POWER DRILL (yikes! That arm is even hairier!) and the REMOTE. Any last thoughts? Suggestions?…

An army is only as good as its recruits, so not surprisingly, the main causes of male fertility problems are problems with sperm. The main way these problems manifest themselves are as follows:

• motility: speed and movement
• morphology: shape and quality
• number: how many recruits in the army