London: Just one rasher of bacon a day can damage a man’s fertility, while eating a portion of white fish such as cod or halibut every other day can improve it, researchers have suggested.
The study by Harvard University on 156 men in couples suffering problems conceiving examined their diet and the size and shape of their sperm.
Researchers found that men who regularly ate processed meat had significantly lower amounts of normal sperm, compared with those who limited the amount of foods like bacon, sausages, hamburgers, ham and mince.
On average, those who ate the equivalent of less than a rasher of bacon a day had 30 per cent more normal sperm than those who ate higher quantities of processed meats.
“Mince” is Strine (and English English) for “ground beef.” At least I assume beef, and not ground pork or lamb. “Mincemeat,” of course, is usually fruit. Which stands to reason.
Not sure why mince qualifies as “processed” meat, though.
Without even knowing more than what type of study it is and the sample size I feel fairly confident saying you can disregard this “finding” and be no worse off :) God, I hate health pronouncements based on extremely small sample cohort studies*… I really do want to stab every “health” and “science” reporter in the face some days.
Don’t even get me started on how unreliable people are in reporting their own eating habits.
