Mothers consuming beef may have sons with reduced sperm count

According to a new research, women who eat large beef quantities in the pregnancy stage are at a higher risk of having sons with poor sperm quality when adults.

Professor Shanna Swan, the lead author of the study that is published online in Human Reproduction journal, said that the finding suggests that maternal beef consumption is associated with lower sperm concentration and possible sub-fertility, which could be influenced by the presence of anabolic steroids and other xenobiotics in beef.

From News-Medical.Net:

Growth promoters for cattle, such as the synthetic hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES), have been used in the USA since 1954. Although DES was banned for use in cattle in 1979, other hormones such as oestradiol, testosterone, progesterone, zeranol, trenbolone acetate and melengestrol continue to be used. Residues of these chemicals remain in the meat after slaughter and so, in the USA, the FDA has regulated their use to avoid unintended adverse effects in humans eating the meat and defined an “acceptable daily intake”. The International Joint Food and Agricultural Organization’s World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) has also published ADIs. In Europe, the use of these hormones has been banned since 1988.

“These ADIs are based on traditional toxicological testing, and the possible effects on human populations exposed to residues of anabolic sex hormones through meat consumption have never, to our knowledge, been studied. Theoretically, the foetus and young children are particularly sensitive to exposure to sex steroids. Therefore, the consumption of residues of steroids in meat by pregnant women and young children is of particular concern,” said Prof Swan, who is director of the Center for Reproductive Epidemiology, associate chair for research and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

The reported intriguing relationship is expected to stimulate future research to examine the link between maternal beef consumption during pregnancy stage and sperm concentration in the male offspring.

Tags: anabolic steroids, fertility, oestradiol, progesterone, sex steroids, testosterone, trenbolone acetate, xenobiotics, zeranol

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