Environmental Loading Of Estrogen Causing Infertility In Men

Fat and estrogen plays have a high correlation with reduced semen quality in men. The high consumption of “saturated fat from animals” is associated with low semen count and poor semen quality. I had to highlight “saturated fat from animals” because saturated fat from animals have a different effect on the body than saturated fat from plants.

I also have to point out that though saturated fat from animals is associated with low semen count and poor semen quality, it is not the saturated fat by itself that is the culprit. It is the substances contained in the saturated fat of animals that are the problem and contribute to decreased semen count and quality.

Fat is a very inviting substance for toxins and endocrine disrupting compounds like xenoestrogen (estrogen) industrial pollutants that like to put down roots and make a home for themselves in the saturated fat of animals. We in turn consume these animals and these pollutants and estrogen attach to our fats cells.

Dr. Greger focused on the estrogen compounds in dairy and cheese products and their association with reduced semen quality, because more than 30% of the consumption of saturated fat by men in the study (in the video) was from these products.

Cheese consumption had been associated with with lower sperm concentration, and dairy consumption has been associated with abnormal sperm shape and movement. It appeared the saturated fat in dairy and cheese contained concentrated amounts of estrogen compounds like estrodial, which is the cause of the semen problems.

Modern factory farming methods used to increase milk production in cows also cause them to be able to lactic through their pregnancy. Their estrogen levels during this time can jump 30 times their normal levels.

Before, the major concern about estrogens in the environment and our food sources was from xenoestrogen levels of industrial pollutants, but we see now that the more immediate concern are the natural estrogen sex hormones being consumed as part of our food supply.

A child’s consumption of the estrogen compound estrodial, from drinking 300ml of milk a day, is 4000 times the intake of environmental hormones or xenoestrogens in terms of hormonal activity. The thing to remember is these estrogen compounds are attached to the saturated fat cells of animals. As we consume more saturated fat from animals, we also consume higher levels of estrogen than normal.

Eggs are also implicated as a major natural source of these estrogen compounds, and meat is also hormone enriched in the U.S. because anabolic sex steroids are administered to cows for growth promotion. An interesting thing about the study is no estrogen could be detected in the vegetables being tested.

So either plant-based foods did not or minimally contributed to estrogen levels in the diet, even though plant-based foods do contain saturated fats. The major contributors of estrogen was the saturated fat in animal products that was home to high levels of estrogen, especially dairy and eggs. The consumption of these products was associated with decreased sperm count and sperm abnormality, while the consumption of vegetables was not.

Tags: infertility in men