Father’s Day & Men’s Health: a deep dive into male reproductive health
What a better holiday than Father’s Day to check in with the men in your life and their health!
The other day I was talking to a female patient about how she and her husband have been having trouble getting pregnant. She was talking about the lifestyle changes she's made; changing her diet, exercising, getting under chiropractic care, etc. She was voicing her frustrations that despite all the changes, they were still having trouble.
So naturally we asked, “Well what has your husband done to improve his health?”
To which she responded, “.....switched out cigarettes for vaping.”
This got me thinking. Our society places so much pressure and blame on the woman when couples struggle to get pregnant, and while a woman’s health plays a huge role in fertility—fellas, you are also half the equation.
Fertility is a two way street.
The prevailing cultural mindset is that a man’s role starts and ends at ejaculation at the time of conception. It’s more complex than that. There are known environmental toxins and dietary and lifestyle choices in this country that are proven to decrease both sperm count and motility. If you and your partner are currently on the preconception train, there are a few simple things that you– the man in the relationship– can do to improve the health of your swimmers.
The Villains
There are certain habits, foods, and environmental toxins that have been linked to decreased male fertility. It's important to know what these are so you can limit or avoid them and keep your little ones safe. This is not an exhaustive list, but certainly the most prevalent and potentially most potent dangers to your swimmers.
Tobacco, Vaping, and Marijuana
This is the most unpopular culprit to talk about, especially if one is an avid “mary jane” consumer. Smoking tobacco is known to cause a host of health problems and it is pretty well established that pregnant and nursing mothers should not smoke cigarettes for risk of harm to the baby. But what about the effects on men? A 2022 review of literature published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research International found that exposure to cigarette smoking can cause genetic mutations and chromosomal defects in humans (1). In addition, a 2016 study found chewing tobacco to cause damaging structural changes in the sperm of mice (2).
Now, vaping. Advertised as a safe alternative to cigarette smoking, many people have switched over thinking they are doing something good. Unfortunately, the public has been misled. A 2023 review of literature found increased risk of bladder cancer, chronic kidney disease, and damage to both sperm quantity and quality (3). No bueno. And unfortunately marijuana use comes with its own challenges. Mostly, recent use and moderate to large quantities of marijuana consumption has been shown to damage how your swimmers move (4). In other words, it slows them down so it would decrease the likelihood of them reaching the egg in time for fertilization.
Phthalates/PFAS/BPB
Phthalates are chemicals added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity. PFAS are substances that create coatings that resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water (think canned food lining, lining of cardboard liquid containers, and some nonstick cookware). BPB is a substitute for BPA and is widely used in the plastics industry. Why do I bring these up? These chemicals are ubiquitous in the plastics of our country and they often leach into our food and water supply. These chemicals are pretty much all shown to drastically decrease the sperm count of both humans and animals. These chemicals are theorized to be the major players as to why men of today have about 50% less sperm count than that of men 50 years ago.
Personal Care Products
A lesser thought about possible cause of male infertility is your personal care products, ie. soaps, body washes, lotions, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants, etc. Basically any product that you put on your skin! The main issue is these products use many chemicals that are known to be endocrine disruptors (mess with your hormones). Unfortunately, the most common disruption of these products are the estrogen/testosterone signaling. Many of these mainstream products mimic the effect of estrogen increasing the levels of estrogen in men. Because testosterone levels decrease as estrogen levels increase, these products can cause low testosterone levels in men and, thus, cause issues with production of sperm. In addition, low testosterone can cause mood disorders and many other issues in men. The Environmental Working Group has done great work explaining these things in detail and give safer alternatives.
Seed Oils
Canola oil
Corn oil
Cottonseed oil
Sunflower oil
Safflower oil
Soybean oil
Grapeseed oil
Rice bran oil.
These are industrial oils that are often extracted with high heat, butane, and other harmful means that leave the oil HIGHLY inflammatory.
Side note: Vegetable oil is usually a blend of some or all of these oils and is not a good substitute.
Consumption of these oils will quickly increase your inflammation levels.
“Inflammation is another term for high levels of oxidative stress which is damaging to your cells including sperm DNA fragmentation and apoptosis (cell death), and consequently infertility. Yikes.”
The Heroes
YOU
You are the hero of your own story. Your decisions on a daily basis affect how much exposure to villains #1 and #2. The solution to tobacco, marijuana, and plastic exposure is mainly avoidance! There is an argument that it costs more to avoid many of the phthalates and plastic by-products. Fair point. However, tobacco and marijuana use is an incredibly expensive habit and I bet that if you stop using those tobacco products, the money you save will pay for the increased cost of using less plastic. You are in control of your own reproductive health. Some easy swaps: replace your teflon non-stick cookware with ceramic nonstick cookware, limit your consumption of canned goods, and limit drinking water from plastic bottles. These 3 things will drastically lower your exposure to these plastic chemicals.
Environmental Working Group
I will bow down to the Environmental Working Group on this one. They have done a TON of work on cleaning up our environment to help us limit our toxic exposure around us. They have a ton of information and resources for living clean. In the case of personal care product villain #3, the EWG has a section dedicated to brands and products that have passed rigorous testing to ensure consumer safety! They also have a way for you to scan the bar code of your existing products to see how well they fair on the spectrum of health. So easy.
Healthy cooking oils
Butter, Avocado Oil, Coconut Oil, and Olive Oil*. Olive oil, while still mostly great, has a relatively low smoke point (heat at which it starts to burn and toxify). Therefore, I would save olive oil for things like salad dressings and other cold dishes. I would recommend cooking with Butter or Avocado Oil. Coconut oil is also a great option, but can sometimes leave a coconut flavor in the food (not always great). Coconut oil also serves as an alternative for lotions and salves. Finally, don’t worry about saturated fats like butter leading to decreased cardiovascular health. It isn’t true. But that is a story for another post.
Chiropractic Care
I would be remiss if I didn't add how chiropractic care can aid in your fertility. There are a few mechanisms by which this occurs, but the most important is it improves the way your body handles stress. One of the main effects of chiropractic care is stress reduction. How? By increasing your body’s capacity to handle stress. How is this linked to fertility? Simple: the body cannot be in “rest and digest” (parasympathetic) and “fight or flight” (stress / sympathetic). When someone is chronically stressed, the body will not be producing reproductive cells and hormones (as it does in a parasympathetic state) as efficiently because the nervous system is in a state of “fight or flight”. Chiropractic care focused on balancing the nervous system is often the missing link.
Infertility is becoming an increasingly common problem. When couples have trouble conceiving, society is quick to look at the woman as “the problem”. Let’s remember the man is half the equation. This Father’s Day, I encourage all the men out there to take inventory of their health –reproductive, mental, physical, etc. If becoming a father is your dream, awesome! We are wishing y’all the absolute best on the road ahead.
And if you’re an aspiring father in the Greenville, SC area– let’s chat! NUCCA Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care could be the missing puzzle piece.
