TORONTO – A study recently announced by researchers from the Loma Linda Medical School found that men living either a vegan or vegetarian diet had lower sperm counts than men who regularly consumed red meat. It has long been noted that vegetarian and vegan diets promote healthy immune systems that enable people to enjoy longer healthier lives. Ironically, this health benefit may not extend to all aspects of a man’s health at least not in terms of sperm counts.

The university is owned by the Seventh Day Adventists protestant sect and was looking to examine the impact of the vegetarian diets on male sperm counts. Part of the Seventh Day Adventist lifestyle is an adherence to vegetarianism. This has led to them enjoying an average lifespan of 89 years of age when the average American lives to age 79. Vegetarian participants in the study were found to have sperm counts of 50 million sperm per mL compared to 70 million sperm per mL in meat eaters. In addition to the lower sperm counts, the percentage of sperm actively mobile in the samples taken from vegetarian men were significantly lower at 30%. Meat eaters had an average sperm mobility of 60%.

As for what is causing the lower sperm count, researchers believe it may be that soy products do not promote the same sperm health as red meat. It may also be that the vegetarian subjects in the sample have a vitamin deficiency that adversely affects their sperm. Dr. Eliza Orzylowska, the study’s lead researcher, pointed out that the vegetarian males’ sperm counts do not make them infertile. At the same time, she stated that those wanting to get their partners pregnant will find the lower sperm count will “play a factor”, which can only mean it may take longer for the couple to conceive.