March 28, 2007

beef consumption in pregnancy

We asked scientists to comment on the finding published in the journal Human Reproduction that women who eat a lot of beef whilst pregnant have sons which grow up to have low sperm counts.

Alastair Hay, Professor of Environmental Toxicology, University of Leeds, said:

“Given the widespread use of hormones to stimulate animal growth in the US the findings of this study that a mother’s consumption of beef could be linked with a reduced sperm count in her son is plausible. However, there are major difficulties with this type of study not the least of which is asking a woman how often she ate beef whilst pregnant 25-30 years ago. We have no idea how much beef she ate which would be important to know. At the very least this study should prompt further investigations to either confirm or refute the link.”

Dr Allan Pacey, Senior Lecturer in Andrology at The University of Sheffield, said:

“Even though males don’t start producing sperm until puberty, it is during the time in their mothers womb, and in the early years of their life as an infant, that the testicles develop their capacity to produce sperm.

“Scientists have been concerned for a number of years that oestrogen mimicking chemicals in water supplies, plastics or make-up can affect the critical stages in the development of young boy’s testicles. In extreme cases, this could lead sperm counts in adult men that are low enough to be the cause of infertility.

“That hormones given to cattle might have lowered the sperm counts of adult men because their mothers ate a lot of beef when they were pregnant with them, is alarming to say the least. It confirms that Europe was justified to ban their use in cattle production in the mid 1980’s.”