Research showing falling sperm rates are causing fertility concerns is the latest indicator that declining health in men needs urgent action .
Obesity, poor diet, exposure to harmful environmental toxins and overuse of medications are thought to have all contributed to a rapid decline in sperm rates since the 1970s.
Normal sperm count ranges from 15 million to 200 million sperm per millilitre of semen, with the global average dropping from about 104 million in 1973 to 49 million in 2019.
Research published by the University of Jerusalem Hadassah Braun School of Public Health found the rate of decline accelerated in the 21st century.
Published in the journal Human Reproduction Update, this is the first meta-analysis demonstrating sperm count decline among men from South and Central America, Asia and Africa. The findings also link back to studies of sperm count decline in North America, Europe, and Australia indicating it has continued and even accelerated in the 21st century.
Consistent with men's health trends
Researchers extracted the findings from 185 studies of 42,935 men who provided semen samples from 1973-2011 for their meta-regression analysis. Data from men in 53 countries were included in the analysis.
“There is a troubling decline in men’s sperm concentration and total sperm counts at over 1 per cent each year,” said researcher Prof Shanna Swan at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York.
“These are consistent with adverse trends in other men’s health outcomes, such as testicular cancer, hormonal disruption, and genital birth defects, as well as declines in female reproductive health. This clearly cannot continue unchecked.”
Medics in the UAE said declining sperm rates associated with men’s health were being driven by poor lifestyle choices and increasing obesity rates.
“Obesity is on the rise and accelerating health risks could also be causing an accelerated decline in fertility, overall, the decline in the male fertility rate is a global phenomenon," said Dr Sailaja Vuppu, head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Burjeel Hospital, Abu Dhabi.
“It is like a slow pandemic. If it continues, it could pose a major threat to human propagation.”
High temperatures in the region could be contributing to declining fertility, Dr Vuppu said.
Studies have shown people who work in high-temperature environments, such as firefighters, bakers, and boiler room workers tend to have a lower sperm count than the general population.
“The decline is increasing,” said Dr Zakwan Khrait, a reproductive consultant at Fakih IVF in Dubai.
“Overall, the same factors that harm health in general usually are also harmful to semen quality.
“Another factor specific to the UAE is often caused by lifestyle factors such as rising rates of diabetes, stress, and obesity.
“The common use of anabolic steroids for bodybuilding and, somewhat counterintuitively, Vitamin D deficiency is also a problem.”
Although environmental factors that affect fertility can be difficult to change, lifestyle tweaks such as quitting smoking, cutting back on alcohol, avoiding drugs and processed food and eating a healthy balanced diet can promote healthy sperm production.
“While there is no obvious statistic to compare the mean fertility level between our UAE community and other parts of the world, observation through our clinical practice suggests it is the same,” said Dr Yassir Jasim, a urologist at Canadian Specialist Hospital, Dubai.
“Low sperm counts or abnormal sperm function is seen in about 20 per cent of couples we see.”
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Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
The Dictionary of Animal Languages
Heidi Sopinka
Scribe
