A study conducted on 1200 Danish men stop me if you’ve heard this one showed that drinking as much as one alcoholic beverage a week can lower the quality of your boys. I’m talking about sperm, which might indeed one day yield you actual boys if used properly, not just quality, sperm killing is for the birth. The study found that a lifestyle lending itself to one simple drink a week could affect sperm concentration, count, and percentage of healthy and normal sperm.

The study was conducted during the men’s physical examination before joining the Army, as was mandatory in Denmark between 2008 and 2012. They asked the men how much alcohol they drank the week before the assessment and whether or not that was the typical amount they drank. To rule out binge drinking or special occasions. And while alcohol consumption led to testosterone levels rising, it caused the sex hormone binding globulin to fall, which makes sense because the glycoprotein is produced mostly by the liver, which is also the part of the body people apologize to on Facebook after a night of heavy drinking. Of course, the heavier drinkers who consumed more than five drinks a week saw the greatest change in their little Olympians, lowering their sperm count by 33 and their normal-looking sperm by 51. but even those who only slurped down one drink a week showed a slight decrease.
Keep in mind, this was just an observational study, so other possible factors including lifestyle choices of those who tend to drink more weren’t taken into account. But similar animal studies suggest that alcohol does have a direct impact on sperm quality.
What do you guys think? Is this a public health concern or could this just be a nice way to control the population with a buzz?