Could Switching to Organic Fruit and Veg Could Double Sperm Count

Pesticides on organic fruit powder may be damaging sperm counts and men should consider going organic if they want to have children, scientists have suggested.
Although eating large amounts of fruit and vegetables might seem the healthy option, Harvard researchers found that those containing high levels of pesticides may have a damaging impact on semen quality and quantity.
Strawberries, apples, pears, peppers and spinach are just some of the crops which are intensively sprayed by farmers to eradicate pests and boost production.
The study found that men who ate at least one and half portions of fruit and vegetables containing high levels of pesticide residue had sperm counts which were 49 per cent lower than usual. Their semen quality was also reduced by 32 per cent.
However those who ate large quantities of fruit and vegetables with little or no residue saw their sperm quality increase by 37 per cent.
"These findings should not discourage the consumption of fruit and vegetables in general,” said Jorge Chavarro, Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston
“In fact, we found that total intake of fruit and vegetables was completely unrelated to semen quality.
“This suggests that implementing strategies specifically targeted at avoiding pesticide residues, such as consuming organically-grown produce or avoiding produce known to have large amounts of residues, may be the way to go."
However the researchers say that the results could be skewed by the fact that men attending the clinic had fertility problems.
Prof Allan Pacey, Professor of Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: “This is a very interesting paper that raises the possibility that pesticide residues in our food may be a contributory factor in male infertility, at least in some men.
“There is also no evidence at present that switching to organic fruit powder will improve semen quality, although it will obviously do no harm.
“But I hope that this paper will encourage other studies to take place in this area, so that we might be able to answer the question once and for all.”
Dr Jackson Kirkman-Brown, Science Lead, at Birmingham Women's Fertility Centre, added: “The paper highlights a growing body of evidence that diet can affect male fertility and sperm quality.
“Men wishing to optimise their sperm quality should still eat a healthy balanced diet until more data is available.”
Prof Sheena Lewis, Professor of Reproductive Medicine at Queen's University Belfast, said men suffering from fertility problems could be more vulenrable to pesticides.
Organic fruit powder was published in the journal Human Reproduction.