TY - JOUR

T1 - Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened or Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Semen Quality in Young Men

T2 - A Cross-Sectional Study

AU - Meldgaard, Maiken

AU - Brix, Nis

AU - Gaml-Sørensen, Anne

AU - Ernst, Andreas

AU - Ramlau-Hansen, Cecilia Høst

AU - Tøttenborg, Sandra Søgaard

AU - Hougaard, Karin Sørig

AU - Bonde, Jens Peter Ellekilde

AU - Toft, Gunnar

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Background: Existing literature suggests that frequent consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks may be associated with lower semen quality. Studies performed in mice suggest a dose-response relationship between intake of saccharin or aspartame, two artificial sweeteners, and sperm and testis function. Methods: A cross-sectional study based on data from The Fetal Programming of Semen Quality (FEPOS) Cohort, including 1047 young men (mean age = 19 years) was performed. Each male participant completed an online questionnaire on health, health behavior and diet, and provided a semen sample. The associations between consumption of sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages (moderate ≥ 3 days/week; infrequent < 3 days/week) and semen quality were analyzed using a multivariable, negative, binomial regression model. Results: Sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverage consumption was not strongly associated with either semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count or total motility in young men. The proportion of morphologically normal sperm was 11% lower (0.89 (95% CI 0.76, 1.04)) for moderate (≥3 days/week) consumption of artificially sweetened beverages relative to infrequent (<3 days/week). Conclusion: Consumption of sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages, at the levels present in this study had limited effect on the measured markers of semen quality in young men.

AB - Background: Existing literature suggests that frequent consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks may be associated with lower semen quality. Studies performed in mice suggest a dose-response relationship between intake of saccharin or aspartame, two artificial sweeteners, and sperm and testis function. Methods: A cross-sectional study based on data from The Fetal Programming of Semen Quality (FEPOS) Cohort, including 1047 young men (mean age = 19 years) was performed. Each male participant completed an online questionnaire on health, health behavior and diet, and provided a semen sample. The associations between consumption of sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages (moderate ≥ 3 days/week; infrequent < 3 days/week) and semen quality were analyzed using a multivariable, negative, binomial regression model. Results: Sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverage consumption was not strongly associated with either semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count or total motility in young men. The proportion of morphologically normal sperm was 11% lower (0.89 (95% CI 0.76, 1.04)) for moderate (≥3 days/week) consumption of artificially sweetened beverages relative to infrequent (<3 days/week). Conclusion: Consumption of sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages, at the levels present in this study had limited effect on the measured markers of semen quality in young men.

KW - Beverage consumption

KW - Non-nutritive sweetener

KW - Semen quality

KW - Soft drink

KW - Sperm morphology

U2 - 10.3390/ijerph19020682

DO - 10.3390/ijerph19020682

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35055501

AN - SCOPUS:85122265715

VL - 19

JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

SN - 1661-7827

IS - 2

M1 - 682

ER -