Experts Say Soyfoods Have No Impact on Sperm Count

Experts claim that soyfoods have no impact on male fertility refuting the findings of a recent study that claimed soyfoods lowered sperm count.

Researchers insist that the small scale, preliminary study by Dr. Jorge Chavarro, was based on recollected intake of soyfoods and not on specific diets containing soyfoods.

"This study is confounded by many issues, thus I feel the results should be viewed with a great deal of caution," warned Dr. Tammy Hedlund, a researcher in prostate cancer prevention from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Department of Pathology.

In the study, Chavarro found that "soyfood and soy isoflavone intakes were unrelated to total sperm count, ejaculate volume, sperm motility, or sperm morphology" which are the important measures of sperm quality and male fertility.

However, the study did not determine directly what other foods, medications, supplements, existing medical conditions, sexual activities or environmental factors may have directly affected the drop in sperm count.

The researchers in the study also classified high intakes of soyfoods as less than 3 ounces of a beverage per day-about one 8 ounce glass of a beverage every three days. This is not considered a high intake of any food under most circumstances.

Dr. Larry Ross, Past President of the American Urology Association noted:"Like most epidemiological reports, this study is retrospective and is therefore inherently subject to a variety of biases. The total study population was small (100 subjects) and little is known or reported about other dietary, stress factors, medications, or lifestyle issues that might also affect sperm counts in these men. It is well known that of all semen parameters, variation in count (#s of sperm/cc seminal fluid) is highly variable from day to day and seasonally in all men. This is most clear when one considers the "range" of "normal" sperm count accepted in our field (20-200,000 million.)"