Air quality inversely proportional to Sperm quality
SEMEN QUALITY IS SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO FERTILITY;
MEN WITH NO( OR VERY FEW ) MOVING SPERM CANNOT FERTILIZE AN EGG.
A recent study of Taiwan concluded that fine air pollution can potentially harm sperm count in men. Exposure to fine particles in air pollution may be another factor that affects men's sperm quality and their fertility, suggest researchers in Taiwan.
Although the clinical effect may be small, the findings could be important from a public health perspective due to worldwide exposure to pollution.
- Particulate matter contains many toxic chemicals such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which have demonstrated harmful to semen quality in laboratory and animal studies.
- Sperm shape and size is an important parameter for fertility. Lower percentage/number of normal sperm may cause infertility.
Although exposure to environmental chemicals has long been considered a potential contributor to infertility, little is known about the effect of air pollution.
The researchers looked at both short-term and long-term exposure to the very fine particles in air pollution known as PM 2.5, which are 2.5 microns or less - about thirty times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. These fine particles can penetrate deep into our lungs and even enter the bloodstream.
These type of particles can be found both indoors and outdoors and most often come to vehicle exhaust, the burning of woods, crops, coal and from emissions given off by power plants and other industries.
India and China have recently been struggling with PM 2.5 pollution levels much higher than is considered safe by WHO(World Health Organisation).
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