Sperm Counts Continue to Decline in Western Nations

Sperm counts in Western countries have decreased by half in recent years, suggesting a continuing and significant decline in male reproductive health, a new evidence review reports.

Sperm concentration decreased an average 52% between 1973 and 2011 while total sperm count declined by 59% during that period, researchers concluded after combining data from 185 studies. The research involved nearly 43,000 men in all.

“We found that sperm counts and concentrations have declined significantly and are continuing to decline in men from Western countries,” said senior researcher Shanna Swan.

The new findings come on the 25th anniversary of the first study to observe a decline in sperm counts, Swan said. The original study, published in 1992, found that sperm counts had declined 50% over 50 years.

“The story has not changed over the past 25 years. Whatever is going on, it’s not transient and it’s not disappearing,” Swan said. “When we look at the data for the last five or 10 years, we don’t see a leveling off of this decline.”

The continued decline raises concerns about male fertility, and also male health in general, Swan said. “We are worried about these low sperm counts not only because people have trouble conceiving, but also because men with low sperm counts go on to have higher all-cause mortality,” Swan said. Studies have shown they die younger and they have more disease, particularly cardiovascular disease and cancer,” she said.

No one knows why sperm counts continue to decline, but researchers believe it’s likely due to factors associated with a modern lifestyle, Swan said. These factors include exposure to man-made chemicals, increased levels of stress, widespread obesity, poor nutrition, lack of physical exercise and smoking.

Many Primary Care Docs May Miss Prediabetes

Most primary care doctors can’t identify all 11 risk factors for prediabetes, a small new survey finds.

Researchers for Johns Hopkins University said their finding should prompt doctors to learn more about this condition that affects an estimated 86 million adults in the United States and could eventually lead to type 2 diabetes.

“We think the findings are a wake-up call for all primary care providers to better recognize the risk factors for prediabetes, which is a major health issue,” said study first author Dr. Eva Tseng in a university news release. She’s an assistant professor at Hopkins’ School of Medicine.

It’s estimated that 90% of those with prediabetes are unaware that they have the condition, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) explains that changes in diet, exercise and certain medications can help prevent people with prediabetes from going on to develop type 2 diabetes.

To investigate why so many people with prediabetes go undiagnosed, the researchers asked primary care doctors attending a medical retreat to complete a survey testing their knowledge of key risk factors for the condition.

The ADA has guidelines that list a total of 11 specific risk factors that determine if a patient should be screened for prediabetes. They include physical inactivity, a first degree relative with diabetes, high blood pressure, and a history of heart disease.

A total of 140 doctors took the survey. Nearly one-third of those surveyed weren’t even familiar with the ADA’s prediabetes guidelines. Only 6% were able to identify all 11 risk factors. On average, the doctors could correctly identify just eight of the warning signs.

Only 17% identified the correct values for fasting glucose and another key measure of glucose, known as HbA1c, which are used to diagnose prediabetes, the study authors said.

Wisdom Wednesday: Rates of Two Nerve Conditions on the Rise

Two particular types of neuropathy have been increasing as more and more people develop diabetes in the United States. An expert says.

Autonomic and small fiber neuropathy were once rare conditions. Both occur when small blood vessels supplying the nerves are damaged by diabetes because they don’t get enough oxygen and nutrients, said Dr. Divpreet Kaur, a neurologist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

Diabetes is one of the main causes of neuropathy, and about 30 million Americans currently have diabetes, Kaur said. More commonly, people with diabetes have nerve damage that causes numbness in the feet and toes. This is called peripheral neuropathy, according the American Diabetes Association.

Autonomic neuropathy affects involuntary bodily functions such as blood pressure, digestion, sexual function, urination, temperature control and sweat regulation.

“The most common symptom is light-headedness, especially when standing up. The blood pressure drops so much when they stand up that they feel like they are going to pass out,” Kaur said in a Penn State news release.

People with small fiber neuropathy often have burning pain in their feet that eventually progresses up their legs. Their hands can also be affected. “People don’t know about it or recognize the symptoms, and they keep going to different physicians without receiving a diagnosis,” Kaur said.

“It isn’t that every patient who has these symptoms will definitely have such a neuropathy. Once common things have been ruled out by their primary care physician, they can be referred to the neuromuscular clinic for consultation or the autonomic laboratory for further testing,” she said.

Not All Plant Foods Are Equal

For years, the mantra has been that eating lots of fruits, vegetables and grains will ward off heart disease, but a new study suggests that choosing the wrong ones may backfire.

The study, of over 200,000 U.S. health professionals, found those who ate plenty of healthy plant foods – such as vegetables, beans and whole grains – did have a lower risk of heart disease.

That was not true, however, if people loaded up on foods that are technically plant-based, but not all that healthy. In fact, diets heavy in pasta, bread, potatoes and sweets appeared just as bad as, if not worse than, diets high in animal products.

“Plant-based foods are not all the same,” said lead researcher Ambika Satija, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston. So it’s crucial that people consider the nutritional quality of the plant foods they choose, she said.

The study did not specifically examine vegetarian or vegan diets, Satija noted. So the findings do not shed light on how those diets affect heart disease risk. But other studies have tied vegetarian and vegan diets to lower risks of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, according to Dr. Kim Williams, chief of cardiology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

“Plant-based nutrition is superior when it comes to most diseases,” Williams said. “But what people don’t always understand is that there are healthy ways to do it, and not-so-healthy ways,” he said. “You can do it wrong.” Williams co-wrote an editorial published with the study in the July 25 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The findings involved three studies that began in the 1980s and 1990s. Every two to four years, the participants gave detailed information on their diets.

Teens Keep Building Bone After They Stop Growing

A new study included more than 2,000 youngsters who had annual bone and growth measurements for up to seven years as they moved into their late teens and early adulthood.

The findings highlight the importance of a healthy diet and physical activity during the late teen years, according to authors of the study published recently in JAMA Pediatrics.

“We often think of a child’s growth largely with respect to height, but overall bone development is also important,” said lea author Dr. Shara McCormack, a pediatric researcher at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“This study shows that roughly 10% of bone mass continues to accumulate after a teenager reaches his or her adult height,” McCormack said in a hospital news release.

The study also found that bone growth develops at different rates in different parts of the skeleton, that it peaks earlier in black Americans that in other racial groups, and that height growth far outpaces bone growth before adolescence.

The later finding could help explain why children and teens have high fracture rates. Between 30 and 50% will have at least one broken bone before adulthood.

Wisdom Wednesday: Bacopa

Bacopa, commonly known as water hyssop, is an Ayurvedic herb traditionally used as a tonic for nervous disorders, hoarseness, as a cardiac tonic, and for urinary incontinence especially in combination with constipation.

As with all saponin-containing herbs, it is considered an adrenal adaptogen but might irritate the digestive tract if taken on an empty stomach. However, because it is also fat soluble, it should be taken with a meal containing additional fat to add in absorption anyway.

I have used Bacopa for many years in formula that also contains Ashwaganda and Bladderwrack called Thyroid Complex. The Bacopa supports pineal and pituitary function, the Ashwaganda is a great adrenal adaptogen and the Bladderwrack is a good source of iodine for the thyroid. This supplement is my “go to” for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

More recently, I have been using Bacopa as a stand-alone herb. Primarily because of improvements in cognition and reduced anxiety reported in multiple double blind studies of this herb. These benefits are noted in both young and old patients putting Bacopa in the general classification as a nootropic herb.

Bacopa interacts with dopamine and serotonergic systems, but its main mechanism concerns promoting neuron communication. It does this by enhancing the rate at which the nervous system can communicate by increasing the growth of nerve endings, called dendrites. Bacopa also has some antioxidant activity.

The beneficial effects of Bacopa take time to truly be appreciated. Typically improvement is much more notable at 8-12 weeks then at 4-6 weeks. However, the anxiolytic effects may occur much more quickly and often are not sustained.

Daily Jolt of Java May Bring Longer Life

Researchers, in two new studies, found that daily coffee drinkers were up to 18% less likely to die over the next 10 to 16 years, versus non-drinkers.

The findings – based on over 700,000 middle-aged and older adults – add to the growing list of benefits linked to moderate coffee drinking.

Studies have already tied the habit to lower risks of various diseases – from heart disease and type 2 diabetes, to liver cancer, to neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. None of those studies prove coffee, per se, provides the benefit.

This runs counter to the common belief that coffee drinking is a bad habit – a belief the evidence does not bear out, according to Veronica Setiawan, the senior researcher on one of the studies.

“Moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle,” said Setiawan. She’s an associate professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine.

Both studies were published online in the July 11 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Still, neither study proved that coffee can extend a person’s life, according to an editorial published with the findings. “We are not in a position to recommend people drink coffee for health benefits,” said Dr. Eliseo Guallar, one of the editorial’s authors.