IS COLA BAD FOR SPERM?

DRINKING TOO MUCH COLA
COULD LOWER MEN'S SPERM COUNT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who drink about a quart or more of cola every day could be causing harm to their sperm, results of a Danish study hint. On average, these men's sperm counts were almost 30 percent lower than in men who didn't drink cola. While most of the sperm counts would still be considered normal by the World Health Organization, men with fewer sperm generally have a higher risk of being infertile. The link is unlikely to be due to caffeine, the researchers say, because coffee did not have the same effect, even though its caffeine content is higher. Instead, other ingredients in the beverage or an unhealthy lifestyle could be involved. “It's important to note that the men who drank a lot of cola were also different in many other ways,” Dr. Tina Kold Jensen of Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark, told Reuters Health.

Because Danish youth has been upping their consumption of caffeine-containing soft drinks over the last decades, the researchers decided to study how this might affect their reproductive health. More than 2,500 young men were included in their study. Those who didn't drink cola had better sperm quality - averaging 50 million sperm per milliliter semen - and tended to have a healthier lifestyle. In contrast, the 93 men who drank more than one liter (about 34 ounces) a day had only 35 million sperm per milliliter. They also ate more fast foods, and less fruit and vegetables. When looking at caffeine from other sources, such as coffee and tea, the decrease in sperm quality was much less pronounced, the researchers note in the American Journal of Epidemiology.


The secret of health lies in the preservation of the seminal energy, because in this precious energy resides the vital force. Having an unhealthy lifestyle, without restriction of the sense enjoyment, drinking too much cola, consuming lot of fast food and very little fruits and vegetables, it is not surprising to get fewer sperm and even the risk of being infertile.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The path of avidyā, or advancement of material knowledge for sense gratification, is the path of repeated birth and death. As he exists spiritually, the living entity has no birth or death. ... Sense enjoyment in the diseased material condition must be restricted as far as possible. Unrestricted sense enjoyment in this bodily condition is the path of ignorance and death. ... A man should lead a healthy life with a sound mind just to realize vidyā, true knowledge, which is the aim of human life.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“Śrī Īśopaniṣad”
Purport in Mantra Eleven.