Men's Health

Man

*Men's Health*

I discussed women's health earlier this week, I'm ending the week's articles with men's health.

Is it possible dietary choices may affect sperm
counts, genital development of boys, sexual
function in men, and risk of prostate cancer,
among other men’s health issues?

The ongoing global drop in male fertility may
be associated with saturated fat intake and
lack of sufficient fruits and vegetables. Sex
steroid hormones in meat, eggs, and dairy
may help explain the link between saturated
fat intake and declining sperm counts.
Cholesterol may also play a role. We’ve known
for decades that men with high cholesterol
levels appear to show abnormalities in their
spermiograms, decreased sperm concentration,
about a third of the normal sperm movement,
and half the normal sperm shape, and, in the
largest study to date, higher levels of
cholesterol in the blood was associated with a
significantly lower percentage of normal
sperm. Cholesterol was also associated with
reductions in semen volume and live sperm
count. These results highlight the role of fats
in the blood in male fertility. Though a
healthier diet may be associated with
healthier sperm counts, cholesterol-lowering
statin drugs did not seem to help.

Erectile dysfunction (ED), the recurrent or
persistent inability to attain or maintain an
erection for satisfactory sexual performance,
reportedly is present in up to 30 million men
in the United States and approximately 100
million men worldwide. The reason may be
due to our artery-clogging diet. Erectile
dysfunction and our number-one killer,
coronary artery disease, may actually be two
manifestations of the same disease—inflamed,
clogged, and crippled arteries—regardless of
which organs are affected.

What if we ate a diet chock-full of plant
foods? A compilation of case-control studies
concluded that cow’s milk consumption is a
risk factor for prostate cancer, and the same
outcome was found for cohort studies. A 2015
meta-analysis found that high intakes of dairy
products—milk, low-fat milk, and cheese, but
not nondairy sources of calcium—appear to
increase total prostate cancer risk.

Harvard University researchers recruited more
than a thousand men with early-stage
prostate cancer and followed them for several
years. Compared with men who rarely ate
eggs , men who ate even less than a single egg
a day appeared to have twice the risk of
prostate cancer progression, such as
metastasizing into the bones. The only thing
potentially worse for prostate cancer than
eggs was poultry: Men with more aggressive
cancer who regularly ate chicken and turkey
had up to four times the risk of prostate
cancer progression.

Image Credit: Ibrakovic/Thinkstock. This
image has been modified.

This article is merely a product of medical research/predictions. I would advice; eat eggs, eat poultry but let it be in moderate quantities. Too much of any food is bad.

Thanks for reading.

Article By: Immanuel Rottex

Happy weekend,
Food, Nutrients & Health.