Poor quality Western diet kills sperm count and lowers male testosterone, study says
By Sandee LaMotte, CNN, Updated 4:15 PM ET, Mon February 24, 2020
作者：珊迪·拉莫特，美國有線電視新聞網報導，更新於2020年2月24日
(CNN) If sperm was an animal, science might worry that it's heading toward extinction in Western nations.
(美國有線電視新聞網) 如果精子是一種動物的話，科學界可能要擔心它會在西方國家走向滅絕了。
Total sperm count in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand dropped by up to 60% in the 38 years between 1973 and 2011, research found - an acceleration of a trend that began in the 1940s. More recent studies show the trend is continuing.
研究發現，在1973年至2011年的38年間，北美、歐洲、澳大利亞和紐西蘭的精子數量下降了高達60%，這比起20世紀40年代開始的勢頭算是一個加速下跌。而更近期的研究表明這一趨勢還在繼續。
At the same time, studies show a concurrent decline in testosterone levels - the hormone needed to build a man's muscle and bone mass and boost his sex drive.
與此同時，研究還顯示了睪丸激素水平也同時下降，睪丸激素是一種增強男性肌肉和骨骼質量並增強性慾所需的激素。
Why? No one knows for sure. Debate rages about the role of radiation, air pollution and chemicals in our food, clothes and water. Smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity likely all play a role.
為什麼會這樣？沒有人確切知道。關於輻射、空氣汙染和化學物質在我們的食物、衣服和水中起的何種作用的爭論十分激烈。吸菸、飲酒和肥胖可能都有份其中。
So could the lower nutritional quality of the typical Western diet, according to a new study published Friday in JAMA Urology.
根據周五發表在《美國醫學會泌尿學雜誌》上的一項新研究，典型西方飲食的較低營養質量特徵也對此沒少貢獻。
"This study is the largest study to date to examine the diet pattern with men's testicular function," said study author Feiby Nassan, a research fellow at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
「這項研究是迄今為止檢查男性睪丸功能飲食模式的最大研究，」研究作者、哈佛大學陳德熙公共衛生學院研究員費比·納森說。
The study found that, on average, men who typically ate a Westernized diet of pizza, snacks, sweets and processed foods produced around 68 million fewer sperm upon ejaculation than men who ate a more healthy, balanced diet.
該研究發現，平均而言，通常吃西式比薩、小吃、糖果和加工食品的男性在射精時產生的精子比吃更健康、平衡飲食的男性少6800萬個。
A man is considered to have a low sperm count if he has less than 39 million sperm per ejaculation or fewer than 15 million sperm per milliliter. A low sperm count can negatively impact a man's ability to get a partner pregnant, and it can be a key marker for overall male health.
如果一個男人每次射精的精子數少於3900萬，或者每毫升精子數少於1500萬，那麼這個男人就被認為是有低精子數量。低精子數會對男性讓伴侶懷孕的能力產生負面影響，它可能是男性整體健康的一個關鍵標誌。
"Fertility is not just important to make babies," Nassan said, adding that new research recently shows fertility is related to a man's general health and life expectancy.
「生育能力不僅僅對生孩子來說非常重要，」納森說，補充表示最近的新研究表明生育能力與一個人的總體健康和預期壽命有關。
A huge difference
巨大的差異
The study looked at 2,935 Danish men of normal weight - with a median age of 19 - who were undergoing a physical to determine their fitness for military service (something all men in Denmark have to do after they turn 18).
這項研究調查了2935名正常體重的丹麥男性，他們的平均年齡為19歲，他們正在進行體檢以確定是否適合服兵役(這是丹麥所有男性在18歲後必須做的事情)。
Blood and semen samples were taken, and the men completed a questionnaire that asked how often they had eaten 136 food items in the prior three months.
他們被採集了血液和精液樣本，完成了一份問卷調查，回答他們在之前的三個月裡吃了136種食物的頻率。
The study looked at four food patterns:
這項研究觀察了四種食物模式:
The "prudent," healthy pattern, in which fish, chicken, vegetables, fruit and water were mostly consumed.
「謹慎」的健康模式，魚、雞、蔬菜、水果和水是主要攝入內容。
The "open-sandwich pattern," a more typically Danish diet with a greater intake of cold, processed meats, whole-grain breads, mayonnaise, cold fish, condiments and dairy.
「開放式三明治模式」，一種更典型的丹麥飲食，人們會攝入更多的冷的加工肉類、全麥麵包、蛋黃醬、冷魚、調味品和奶製品。
The vegetarian-like pattern, with a high intake of vegetables, soy milk and eggs, with little to no red meat or chicken.
素食模式，大量攝入蔬菜、豆奶和雞蛋，很少或沒有紅肉或雞肉。
And the "unhealthy" Western pattern, with more pizza, snacks, french fries, sweets, sugar-sweetened drinks, processed and red meat, snacks and highly processed grains.
「不健康」的西方模式，食物中有更多的比薩、小吃、炸薯條、糖果、含糖飲料、加工紅肉、和高度加工的穀物。
Men who closely followed the prudent pattern of eating - characterized by lots of fish, chicken, vegetables, fruit and water - were associated with the highest sperm counts.This was followed by the semi-vegetarian and then the "smørrebrød," or Danish, eating style.
那些嚴格遵循謹慎飲食模式(以大量魚類、雞肉、蔬菜、水果和水為特徵)的男性精子數量最高。接下來是半素食，然後是「丹麥三明治」式，或者叫做丹麥飲食模式。
"The median sperm count of men who had the highest adherence to the 'prudent' pattern was 68 million higher than men who had the highest adherence to the 'Western' pattern," Nassan said, with 95 percent confidence intervals of 43 and 93.
「遵循『謹慎』模式最多的男性的精子計數中位數比遵循『西方』模式最多的男性高6800萬，」納森說，95%的置信區間為43和93。
In addition, the median sperm count of men who had the highest adherence to the vegetarian-like pattern was nearly 33 million higher than men who mostly ate the less nutritious Western diet.
此外，堅持素食模式最多的男性精子數中位數比大部分吃低營養西方模式飲食的男性高出近3300萬。
CNN wrote about the study's preliminary results last year.At the time, Charles Lindemann, a professor emeritus and researcher at Michigan's Oakland University who did not participate in the research, said the study's findings "could be an important clue if it holds up to scrutiny."
CNN去年報導了這項研究的初步結果。當時，沒有參與這項研究的密西根奧克蘭大學榮譽退休教授兼研究員查爾斯·林德曼(Charles Lindemann)表示，這項研究的發現「如果經得起推敲，可能是一條重要線索。」
A diet high in processed foods, he said, "may be responsible for the known trend that has been recorded over the recent past of progressively decreasing sperm counts."
他說，加工食品含量高的飲食「可能解釋了最近記錄的精子數量逐漸減少的已知趨勢」
Nassan said her findings show eating seafood, poultry, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables give the body the antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids " essential for good sperm production."
納森說，她的研究結果表明，吃海鮮、家禽、堅果、全穀物、水果和蔬菜能給身體提供抗氧化劑和ω-3脂肪酸，這是「產生良好精子所必需的至關重要的東西。」
"Changing diet pattern may be a simple and inexpensive change" to protect a man's testicular function, Nassan said.
「改變飲食模式可能是人們需要做出的一個簡單而且不貴的改變」，以保護男性的睪丸功能，納森說。
"I believe that it is not only 'you are what you eat' but it is also 'your sperm is what you eat.'"
「我認為，不僅『你體現了你吃什麼』，而且『你的精子體現了吃什麼。』"
Susan Scutti contributed to this report.
蘇珊·斯庫特對此報導有貢獻。