Home Men Health Could Cellphones Be Harming Men’s Sperm?

Could Cellphones Be Harming Men’s Sperm?

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Could Cellphones Be Harming Men’s Sperm?

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 1, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Cellphone use is perhaps blunting a fellow’s possibilities of becoming a father, a serious latest study reports.

Young men who steadily use mobile phones have lower sperm concentrations and sperm counts than guys who rarely dial on the go, Swiss researchers found using greater than a decade’s price of information.

Nonetheless, the information also showed that the move to improved cell technologies like 4G could have the pleased side effect of protecting male fertility, the study authors noted.

The association between cellphone use and lower semen quality progressively decreased between 2005 and 2018, the researchers found.

“We expect that this trend corresponds to the transition from 2G to 3G, after which from 3G to 4G, which has led to a discount within the transmitting power of phones,” said lead researcher Rita Rahban. She’s a senior researcher and teaching assistant within the University of Geneva’s department of genetic medicine and development.

“4G is far more efficient than 2G in data transmission, which reduces exposure time,” Rahban explained. “Usually, newer generations of mobile technology, like 4G and 5G, aim to cut back radiation exposure while offering improved data speeds and capabilities.”

Overall, the investigators found that men who used their cellphones greater than 20 times a day were 30% more prone to have a sperm concentration lower than the worth set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for minimum healthy male fertility, in comparison with men who used their mobile lower than once every week.

Frequent cell users also were 21% more prone to have a sperm count lower than the WHO’s fertility reference, in comparison with rare users.

These observed effects on sperm concentrations and counts “could impact a person’s fertility,” said Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy, director of male reproductive medicine and surgery on the University of Miami Health System.

“Their findings challenge previously held notions and prompt us to reconsider our understanding of cell phone effects on male fertility,” said Ramasamy, who was not involved within the study.

Given these findings, cellphones is perhaps one reason why many studies have shown that semen quality has decreased.

Average sperm count is reported to have dropped from 99 million sperm per milliliter of semen to 47 million/mL in the course of the past 50 years, the researchers said in background notes.

For the study, Rahban and her colleagues tracked nearly 2,900 Swiss men aged 18 to 22 recruited between 2005 and 2018 at six military conscription centers. 

The boys accomplished detailed questionnaires about their lifestyles and health, including their cellphone use. Additionally they provided sperm samples as a part of a physical examination.

Average sperm concentration in men who use their cellphone greater than 20 times a day was 44.5 million/mL, in comparison with 56.5 million/mL for men who don’t use their cellphone greater than once every week, Rahban said.

“This difference corresponds to a 21% decrease in sperm concentration for frequent users in comparison with rare users,” Rahban said.

Heavy cell phone users also had a lower average sperm count, about 120 million compared to almost 154 million for men who rarely use a cellphone.

Overall, heavy cellphone users were more prone to have a sperm concentration that dips below 15 million/mL, which the WHO says is the extent at which a person will probably take greater than a yr to conceive a toddler, in line with the report.

However the researchers warned that their study didn’t evaluate the effect of cell phone use on pregnancy rates, and couldn’t draw a direct cause-and-effect link between cellphones and male infertility.

“What we are able to say is just that the danger of getting low sperm concentration is higher within the group of men steadily using their phones,” Rahban said.

Rahban also identified that the typical sperm concentration for heavy cellphone users of 44.5 million/mL still is greater than two times higher than the WHO’s value of 15 million/mL for male infertility.

“Subsequently, the danger for men to be infertile due to cell phone use is low,” Rahban said. “It is vital to say that sperm are produced constantly within the testicles every 10 weeks. Men, subsequently, renew their sperm storage quite steadily. Because of this even when we discover an association, the effect is in lots of cases reversible. Men shouldn’t be scared.”

Cellphone use didn’t affect the form of sperm or their ability to maneuver, the findings showed.

Ramasamy agreed that “the precise extent to which this could prevent pregnancy would require further studies, including those who directly link these sperm changes to successful pregnancy rates.”

There are a few possible the reason why cellphone use might harm semen quality, the experts said.

An obvious possibility is the warmth generated by phones.

“When a cell phone operates at its highest power, it could cause local tissue temperature to rise. If a phone is stored in a pants pocket near the testes, this slight increase in temperature could potentially interfere with sperm production and development,” Ramasamy said.

“Nonetheless, no solid evidence supports this direct effect, as no direct correlation has been found between phone positioning on the body and sperm quality,” he stressed.

On this study, “we didn’t observe any association between low semen quality and placing the phone within the pant pocket,” Rahban said.

One other possibility is that the electromagnetic radiation emitted by cellphones could interfere with the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, the brain-gland connection that regulates testicular function and sperm production, Rahban and Ramasamy suggested.

“Various proposed mechanisms have tried to clarify these potential adversarial effects, including disruptions in cellular metabolism, DNA damage, oxidative stress, and thermal actions,” Ramasamy said.

“Nonetheless, it’s essential to notice that lots of these studies have been based on rodent models or examined human semen outside the body, which doesn’t necessarily reflect real-life human exposure,” he continued.

The brand new study was published Oct. 31 within the journal Fertility and Sterility.

More information

The Environmental Working Group has more about cellphone radiation and male fertility.

SOURCES: Rita Rahban, PhD, senior researcher and teaching assistant, department of genetic medicine and development, University of Geneva; Ranjith Ramasamy, MD, director, male reproductive medicine and surgery, University of Miami Health System; Fertility and Sterility, Oct. 31, 2023

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