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bananas

(27,509 posts)
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 05:18 PM Aug 2016

Dog sperm quality decline is blamed on pet food chemicals

Source: New Scientist

Sperm quality in dogs has fallen rapidly over the past three decades, a trend which could help explain the purported decline in human fertility.

The finding has highlighted a potential link between environmental contaminants and fertility – after scientists discovered chemicals which had a detrimental effect on sperm function in some commercially available pet foods.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham believe that the study could help explain the reported significant decline in human semen quality.

<snip>

Sperm motility declined by 2.5 per cent per year between 1988 and 1998, and then at a rate of 1.2 per cent per year from 2002 to 2014.

The researchers also found that male pups fathered by the stud dogs with declining semen quality were more prone to cryptorchidism – a condition in which the testes fail to correctly descend into the scrotum.

<snip>

He said that the study “begs the question” whether a similar effect could be observed in human male fertility.

<snip>

Journal reference: Scientific Reports, doi: 10.1038/srep31281

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2100408-dog-sperm-quality-decline-is-blamed-on-pet-food-chemicals/

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Dog sperm quality decline is blamed on pet food chemicals (Original Post) bananas Aug 2016 OP
What a fine article to stumble upon when I'm just sitting down to eat bluestateguy Aug 2016 #1
Makes it taste funny too. Lance Bass esquire Aug 2016 #2
GMTA! jberryhill Aug 2016 #4
Not just the quality, but the taste is off too jberryhill Aug 2016 #3
All dogs should be spayed or neutered!!! Worrying about the quality of their sperm is something Laser102 Aug 2016 #5
pet population is a different issue than PCBs in food GreatGazoo Aug 2016 #12
Agreed. Laser102 Aug 2016 #14
all the domesticated animals even humans, the male lines are so weak & inbred Sunlei Aug 2016 #6
Why do they do anything except eat, sleep, play and make puppies? jtuck004 Aug 2016 #7
Bummer. George II Aug 2016 #8
I would think breeders would give their dogs high quality food milestogo Aug 2016 #9
One problem is high levels of glyphosate in all grains womanofthehills Aug 2016 #15
Me too. milestogo Aug 2016 #16
Mine are $1.98 for a small 6oz can . Some can only afford the dry or less expensive and they should Person 2713 Aug 2016 #18
And Human?! burrowowl Aug 2016 #10
Collecting that data is a job I really don't want. jmondine Aug 2016 #11
Better IMHO version of the analysis of this study GreatGazoo Aug 2016 #13
The cancer rates in domestic animals are way up too. milestogo Aug 2016 #17
Yes these Chems are creating havoc to the whole body Person 2713 Aug 2016 #19
Do That Many Men RobinA Aug 2016 #20
It tastes just like it smells FrodosPet Aug 2016 #22
I don't even want to know how that kind of research is done. yellowcanine Aug 2016 #21

Laser102

(816 posts)
5. All dogs should be spayed or neutered!!! Worrying about the quality of their sperm is something
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 05:28 PM
Aug 2016

breeders do. We have way too many dogs and cats in shelters that need loving homes. I have always adopted shelter pets. The three in front of me are family.

GreatGazoo

(3,937 posts)
12. pet population is a different issue than PCBs in food
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 07:30 PM
Aug 2016

Last edited Tue Aug 9, 2016, 08:55 PM - Edit history (1)

I agree that more should be done to avoid the 50 million euthanized pets that Americans kill every year but quality of life (and quality of health) is an issue for all of us who eat food coming out of that same mass commodity system.

The same factories that produce dog food also produce shelf stable human food. Dog food is made with the byproducts of food destined for human consumption. The BPA found in dogs is also found in humans and is worth avoiding.

milestogo

(16,829 posts)
9. I would think breeders would give their dogs high quality food
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 06:25 PM
Aug 2016

unless they're just in it for the money.

milestogo

(16,829 posts)
16. Me too.
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 09:01 PM
Aug 2016

But I think there are a lot of people out there who don't want to spend the extra money for grain free.

Person 2713

(3,263 posts)
18. Mine are $1.98 for a small 6oz can . Some can only afford the dry or less expensive and they should
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 09:46 PM
Aug 2016

be allowed grain filler OK , but not with toxic chemicals a pet ingests too

GreatGazoo

(3,937 posts)
13. Better IMHO version of the analysis of this study
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 07:32 PM
Aug 2016
Study showing decline in dog fertility may have human implications

Why the dog?” said Dr Lea. “Apart from the fact that it is a great population of animals to work with, dogs live in our homes, they sometimes eat the same food, they are exposed to the same environmental contaminants that we are, so the underlying hypothesis is that the dog is really a type of sentinel for human exposure.”
...
The researchers saw increases in cryptorchidism in the study dogs’ pups over the years. They also saw a clear connection between environmental chemicals and declining fertility. How this might work, however, is not so clear.

“If you think about it, we are exposed to a cocktail. Who knows how many chemicals are out there and what they are doing? It gets even more complicated when you start to look at the effects of mixtures of chemicals,” Dr Lea said.

“What we have been able to do here is just to pull out ones that we know are present, and we have tested those in terms of their effects and it does suggest there is an impact. The next stage – and it is a big next stage - is trying to tease out what else is there and how those chemicals are interacting.”


https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/09/study-showing-decline-in-dog-fertility-may-have-human-implications
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