Pubdate: Sun, 30 Aug 2015
Source: USA Today (US)
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MARIJUANA MAY DO BAD THINGS TO SPERM

(NEWSER) - Smoking pot could damage your semen quality, or so suggests a 
new study out of Denmark. Some 1,215 Danish men ages 18 to 28 were asked 
about their drug use over the past three months and provided a semen 
sample. The researchers found a correlation between men who smoked pot 
more than once weekly and "quite a lot" of a drop in sperm count: the 
count was an average 29% lower in these men than in those who reported 
lighter or no usage. Those who reported additional drug use (anything 
from cocaine to ecstasy) saw an even more severe reduction, with average 
sperm count down 55%.

"Our findings are of public interest as marijuana use is common"-indeed, 
45% of participants had smoked in the last 3 months-"and may be 
contributing to recent reports of poor semen quality," the University of 
Copenhagen researchers write in the American Journal of Epidemiology. 
There could be two things going on, they tell Live Science. It's 
possible the interaction between THC and receptors in the testes causes 
the drop. Or it might not be the marijuana at all. "We cannot exclude 
the possibility that the men who used marijuana generally have an 
unhealthier lifestyle and health behavior, which may also affect their 
semen quality and hormone levels," say the researchers. They did, 
however take into account caffeine, alcohol, and cigarette consumption, 
and the tie still held. A 2014 study found that pot usage was strongly 
associated with "abnormal sperm morphology," reported Fox News.

This article originally appeared on Newser: What Marijuana May Do to Sperm
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MAP posted-by: Matt