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Though there don't appear to have been any recent developments on this issue, the Internet – largely led by English tabloids – has decided that it's time to remind us all about a 2010 study by scientists from Copenhagen University Hospital, which found evidence that drinking too much soda can reduce a man’s sperm count by as much as thirty percent.
Exactly why this has suddenly become so widely talked about is a bit of a mystery, since as far as we are aware there is no new research to speak of. However, the findings of the study are worth bearing in mind if you happen to be a lover of the self-appointed “Real Thing” (and a man).
After examining the potency of 2,500 men, the researchers discovered that those who identified as cola addicts had an average sperm count of 35 million per liter. Though this is not actually considered to be below the healthy limit, it is pretty far short of the 56 million sperm per liter that non-soda addicts were found to have swimming around their testes.
How these popular drinks produce this plunge in sperm numbers is not known, although the researchers have ruled out caffeine as the cause, after finding no connection between caffeine in other drinks and sperm count.
A number of other studies have in the past attempted to find a connection between excessive soda drinking and poor sexual health in men, though most have found no concrete proof of any link. For instance, back in the 1980s, researchers added a variety of Coca-Cola products to sperm in an attempt to see if it reduced their swimming ability, but ultimately did not find enough evidence to support this.
More recently, researchers published a report in which they listed several reasons why drinking too much soda could potentially cause erectile dysfunction. For instance, they explain that high sugar intake could cause some of the blood vessels in the penis to become clogged up with fat, impeding blood flow and making it harder to get an erection.
As such, they conclude that there is a high probability of a connection between soft drinks and soft penises, though they can’t confirm this without conducting a long-term study.
