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Smoking ‘damages sperm, reducing chances of fertilization’

By Chukwuma Muanya, Assistant Editor (Head Insight Team, Science & Technology)
11 July 2016   |   4:25 am
But, now a new study adds weight to the evidence in favor of advising fathers to stub out their habit as well.
Smoking

Smoking

When trying for a baby, it is widely accepted that prospective mothers should quit smoking.

But, now a new study adds weight to the evidence in favor of advising fathers to stub out their habit as well.

A team of Brazilian researchers found smoking damages a man’s sperm, in such a way that can make fertilization of his partner’s egg impossible.

Past research has shown that tobacco is linked to a decrease in sperm concentration as well as high sperm Deoxy ribonucleic Acid (DNA)/genetic material fragmentation or oxidative stress.

The new study, first published by DailyMailUK Online, added to a body of evidence, that suggest a man’s fertility is sensitive to environmental factors, including obesity, smoking, alcoholism and pollution.

The scientists, based at São Paulo Federal University, performed sperm function tests on 20 non-smoking men with normal sperm quality, as defined by the World Health Organization.

And, the same tests were also performed on 20 smoking patients. All those taking part were aged between 20 and 50, researchers noted.

They assessed a number of factors, including semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm motility as well as sperm morphology.

The authors wrote: “In the present study, we showed that smoking has a detrimental effect on functional aspects of sperm.

“Smokers had a lower percentage of sperm with high DNA integrity, as well as higher percentages of sperm with mid- to high sperm DNA fragmentation, when compared with non-smokers.”

Sperm fragmentation can occur for a number of reasons. The most important of those is due to oxidative stress.

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