Nary a month goes by without a tabloid news story lamenting the declining quality of sperm in the 21st century, with culprits ranging from mobile phones to SPF cream, bacon to cycling. Male fertility has indeed become a fraught business – which is in itself unfortunate, since stress takes much of the blame for our collective emasculation, too.
Still, it pays to wonder if your sperm are in top knick. One new school of thought gaining qualified traction is a dietary nuance you might have overlooked: simply eat more organic food. In a Journal of Nutrition study, the sperm counts of men who ate three or more daily servings of fruit and vegetables with low levels of pesticide residue were 169 per cent higher than men who picked their apples from the wrong side of the supermarket aisle. While the antioxidants in all fresh produce are thought to promote sperm (and general) health, the study concluded that the existence of pesticides might be undoing those benefits.
So if, until now, you’ve remained unconvinced by the nutritional argument for going organic – and you wouldn’t be alone – then this might persuade you otherwise. There’s more work to be done, of course, but we think it’s a conception with legs. Just be sure that buying organic doesn’t turn you into a jerk.
