After many years spent believing men could produce offspring (so to speak) at any age, new studies show just the opposite.
According to research conducted by Doctors Harry Fisch and Larry Lipshultz, there exists a biological clock for males as well.
"Fertility will drop for some men, others will maintain their fertility but not to the same degree, and there is an increased risk of genetic abnormalities," says Fisch.
Some of the genetic abnormalities include autism and schizophrenia. Children born to men 40 or above are more likely to contract these problems than those of younger males.
Pamela Madsen, director of the American Fertility Association, stated, “I don’t see why everyone is so surprised. Everyone ages. Why would sperm cells be the only cells not to age as men get older?”
The overall view of the scientists researching this phenomenon is men need to be more aware of this issue and understand that they cannot wait forever to have children. Doing so would put their potential children at risk for serious medical complications.
Information for this post was obtained from Roni Rabin's article "It Seems the Fertility Clock Ticks for Men, Too."
2 comments:
Male fertility diminishing with age?
Guess it makes sense.
Yes, clocks are ticking for all of us.
Listening up out there, all you men bloggers?
I think that is interesting. Just Sunday, I was telling my family that it is not reasonable to have children when you are old, because they will have some type of health problem. This blog proves my theory!
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