How a Big Mac could ruin your sex life: Fast food causes a drop in testosterone almost immediately – and damages men’s sperm
- Study by Adelaide universities found fast food lowers testosterone in some men
- Research found levels dropped an hour after overweight men ate high fat meal
- Scientist said the effect seemed to be reaction of the fat in digestive system
Overweight men who eat fast food experience an immediate drop in their testosterone levels impacting their ability to conceive, a new study has found.
The research found that eating a high-fat fast food meal, produced a 25 per cent drop in testosterone in the blood of overweight men within an hour of eating.
The study, jointly conducted by Flinders University and UniSA, also found levels stayed reduced for up to four hours.
No link between fast food and testosterone levels was found in lean men.
A new study has found that eating a fast food meal causes an immediate drop in testosterone levels in overweight men
Researchers said the discovery should ring alarm bells for overweight men who are thinking of becoming dads, with existing research already linking obesity to reduced fertility.
The fast food used in the test was a mainstream meal purchased from a popular fast food chain and contained 51 grams of fat.
While the fat consumed in the meal reduced testosterone levels it had no impact when administered intravenously.
‘Injecting fat into people had no effect on testosterone, so it is not the fat itself, it is the passage of fat through the gut that’s doing it,’ Flinders University’s Strategic Professor of Reproductive Medicine Professor Kelton Tremellen told The Advertiser.
A previous theory had suggested fat was toxic to sperm producing cells, however, it seems to be the body’s response to the fat in the digestive system that is the problem.
‘If people are eating high fat fast food meals every few hours they are going to have continually suppressed testosterone levels and poor sperm quality,’ Professor Tremellen said.
‘But this suggests it is not just about losing weight – it is more about what you are eating that is the issue.’
A previous theory had suggested fat was toxic to sperm producing cells, however, it seems to be the body’s response to the fat in the digestive system that is the problem