A real life Handmaid’s Tale? Study shows sperm count of western men has halved in 40 years

THE sperm counts of Western men have plummeted in recent decades. Could this be the start of the Handmaid’s Tale coming true?

The study found “a 50 to 60 per cent decline” in sperm count among men from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

THE sperm count of Australian men has plummeted in recent decades, dropping more than 50 per cent in less than 40 years, according to new research with paints a worrying picture of the vitality of our men.

Poor lifestyle choices linked to obesity have been blamed for the dramatic fall in the number of baby-making bullets among Aussie men.

The concerning findings are a result of an international study published in journal Human Reproduction Update which conducted analysis on 185 separate studies between 1973 and 2011, involving 43,000 men.

The study found “a 50—60 per cent decline among men unselected by fertility from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand,” researchers wrote.

“Because of the significant public health implications of these results, research on the causes of this continuing decline is urgently needed.”

Many on social media have been quick to joke that dystopian stories like Children of Men and The Handmaid’s Tale in which humanity loses its ability to reproduce were inching closer to reality.

Of course that’s far from the case but scientists are warning the data analysis amounts to a huge wake up call for unhealthy Western men.

Australian reproductive expert Kelton Tremellen, Professor of Reproductive Medicine at Flinders University, says the paper confirms pervious observations and should act as a “wake-up call” to Aussie blokes.

The most likely cause of this halving of sperm counts, he says, is obesity.

“Poor diet and lack of exercise, both endemic in the western world, has resulted in two-thirds of men being overweight or obese, and obesity is known to be a significant risk factor for both low testosterone levels and sperm count.”

Social media is full of people linking the study results with the new hit series The Handmaid’s Tale. Picture: George Kraychyk

While the study did not produce any new primary data, researchers hoped the meta analysis would provide a robust overview of the situation in an area of research that has proved controversial at times due to inconsistent methodologies and varying conclusions.

The new analysis found a 52.4 per cent decline in sperm concentration and a 59.3 per cent decline in total sperm count among Western men. However the trend did not appear in other populations as no significant sperm decline was seen in South America, Asia or Africa.

More research is needed to understand the potential impact populations of men with fewer swimmers will have on society, experts say.

“Ultimately the concern is that a fall in sperm output will be reflected in delays in natural conception rates. To date this has not been established,” said Professor Rob McLachlan, Director of Clinical Research at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne.

He too called for the need to identify and address potential negative impactors such as lifestyle and environmental toxicants which are linked to Western lifestyles.

“It is unlikely that anything more can be done in the foreseeable future to definitively answer this major public health question,” he said.

Dr Shaun Roman, a reproductive toxicologist and Senior Lecturer in the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Newcastle echoed the sentiment that the study results serve as a warning sign.

“However it should be noted that it only takes one sperm to fertilise an egg and, on average, western men are still producing 50 million per ejaculate,” she said.

“We are not in crisis yet but this study serves as a warning that we should investigate the role our diet and environment pay on sperm production.”

- With AAP

Don’t worry too much, we’re still producing about 50 million swimmers each time around. Life after death: What is post-mortem sperm retrieval?