Soy Foods Lower Sperm Count

October 17, 2007

by Kaayla T. Daniel, Phd

Soy Expert Links New Research to America’s Infertility Epidemic

Washington, DC – Estrogenlike compounds in soy foods can lower sperm count according a Harvard School of Public Health research presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. The report, by Jorge Chavarro, MD, ScD, bolsters concerns expressed by scientists, doctors and nutritionists who have warned that soy can adversely affect male fertility. America is in the midst of an epidemic of infertility, according to Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food. “Soy is heavily marketed as a health food, despite adverse effects on male fertility. Men who eat soy foods and drink soy milk are less likely to father children and more likely to experience loss of libido. This latest study shows lowered sperm concentration. Other researchers have linked soy consumption to poor sperm quality as well as lowered testosterone levels.”

Dr. Chavarro and colleagues studied 100 men who were members of couples having trouble getting pregnant. Semen analyses showed that the men with the highest levels of soy food intake approximately a half serving per day – had 41 million sperm per milliliter fewer than men who did not consume any soy. The researchers used a questionnaire listing 15 soybased foods to determine soy consumption over the preceding three months. “These men were eating – on average – only a half serving of soy foods per day,” says Dr. Daniel. “That is far less than the amount of soy foods and soy milk consumed by many vegetarians and other health conscious men. Yet it was enough to seriously lower their sperm count.”

According to reports in several respected scientific journals, including the Lancet, British Medical Journal, and Environmental Health Perspectives, sperm counts have been declining at the rate of two percent per year since the 1970s, and sperm quality has also suffered. “The most probable cause is a combined assault by the environmental estrogens in pesticides and plastics along with the plantestrogens from soy,” says Dr. Daniel. “I hope this study will put the spotlight on soy’s contribution to the estrogenization of our men.”

To read or to download the full article, click Soy’s Affect on Male Fertility