Wed, Nov 1st 2023
Cell phone use could have a negative impact on sperm quality. The more often a man uses it to make phone calls, write messages or surf the Internet, the lower his sperm quality, a new Swiss study shows.
Men who use their cell phones more than 20 times a day have about one-fifth fewer sperm per milliliter of ejaculate than men who reach for their phones no more than five times a day, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Fertility and Sterility. Thus, indirectly, decreasing their fertility. However, high cell phone use did not affect sperm motility and morphology, according to the study.
Researchers from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and the University of Geneva (Unige) analyzed sperm from 2886 men between the ages of 18 and 22 who were recruited at military recruitments between 2005 and 2018, according to the two institutions. The young men were given a questionnaire about their lifestyle habits, health status and how often they used their cell phones. They were also asked where they put their device when they were not using it.
This is the world’s largest study on the topic, study co-author Martin Röösli of Swiss TPH told the Keystone-SDA news agency. “The issue has not been taken seriously in science until now,” Röösli said. However, the data on which the new study was based were also originally collected for a different evaluation. The study should therefore be seen as a first step, Röösli classified. In order to make more reliable statements, further studies are necessary, he said.
According to the Unige and Swiss TPH statement, the analysis of the data indicates that the location of the phone is not associated with poorer sperm counts. However, according to Röösli, the number of people who stated in the study that they did not carry their cell phones close to their bodies was too small to make any firm statements about this.
The study also showed that the effect of high cell phone usage decreased during the study period. The researchers explain this with the transition of transmission technology from 2G to 3G and later to 4G. “The reception of cell phones got better over time, so less radiation is needed,” Röösli explained.
According to Röösli, this result suggests that radiation from cell phones could be to blame for the loss of sperm concentration. “But it would also be possible that other factors, such as lifestyle, have distorted the results,” he said.
Based on the same data set, scientists had shown in 2019 that sperm quality among Swiss men is in a critical state. In six out of ten men, at least one quality perimeter was below the standard values set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Switzerland is not alone in this. Numerous studies have shown that sperm quality has declined over the past 50 years, as Unige and Swiss TPH wrote. Experts believe that this phenomenon is due to a combination of environmental factors (endocrine disruptors, pesticides, radiation) and behavioral factors (diet, alcohol, stress, smoking).
©Keystone/SDA
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