New research reported at this week's meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction found that men with a history of fertility problems can improve their sperm count by having sex every day. The problem is that recent surveys show that a startling number of Americans are NOT having sex: 40 million live in no-sex, low-sex relationships and 43 percent of men report some form of sexual inadequacy.
Think that statistics refer to men past their prime? Think again. This downhill trend in sexual desire, performance and pleasure is increasingly occurring in younger 20-something and 30-something men. According to Genie James, M.M.Sc., Executive Director of The Natural Hormone Institute, "Environmental hormones are a very real culprit sabotaging both a man's sex life and his sperm count."
"Environmental estrogens, or xenoestrogens, are prolific in our everyday lives," says James. "They can be found in certain pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, plastics, fuels, car exhausts, dry cleaning chemicals, industrial waste, meat from livestock fed estrogenic drugs to fatten them up, lawn care solutions and hair products. Even that "healthy" bottle of water you carry around can leach xenoestrogens from the plastic into the water depositing them into your system upon drinking.
Multiple research studies in this country and Europe show a link between xenoestrogens, particularly estrogenic steroids used to fatten livestock, as the culprit contributing to increased incidence of testicular cancer, decreased sperm counts, volume of sperm ejaculated, unhealthy sperm and reproductive abnormalities.
So what's a guy to do who is concerned about his sperm count or wants a baby but for some reason doesn't want to have sex? First and foremost, James advises having your hormone levels tested by a knowledgeable physician who is expert in diagnosing hormone level deficiencies.
Low testosterone levels (the hormone of desire and pleasure) can be safely treated with bioidentical testosterone replacement. "In addition to boosting a lagging libido, recent medical research released by Harvard Medical School indicate that keeping testosterone levels at a healthy-high level can reduce a man's risk of prostate cancer," says James. "Simultaneously, clean up your diet. Choose organic meats and poultry when at all possible and do all that you can to eliminate lurking xenohormones from your environment."
