Passive smoking linked to infertility and earlier menopause

With the end of another year almost up, many of us will be thinking about our New Year’s Resolutions for 2016. Perhaps they could include losing weight, cutting down on alcohol, giving up chocolate…but the most common resolution is usually quitting smoking.

This is not such a bad thing though; smoking is linked to numerous forms of cancer, in addition to heart disease, stroke and many more serious health problems, and a new study has demonstrated that even passive (second-hand) smoking could be the cause of infertility and an earlier menopause in women.

Published online in the Dec. 15 edition of the journal Tobacco Control, the new study reports that women with exposure to high levels of tobacco – either smoking themselves or passively – could have a menopause that occurs one or two years earlier compared to those who have never smoked or exposed to passive smoking.

For the study, researchers assessed data on 79,690 women in the age range of 50 to 79 that had completed the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI OS) – a large study began in 1991 to monitor the health of over 160,000 healthy, postmenopausal women. 88,000 women were analysed for fertility effects, with another 80,000 analysed for the onset of natural, or nonsurgical, menopause.

All of the women had experienced a ‘natural’ menopause – meaning the woman had not had a period for 12 consecutive months and they had not had surgery to remove their ovaries.

Previous research has identified a connection between smoking and higher rates of infertility and earlier menopause. However, “second-hand smoke is less researched,” especially among never-smoking women, commented the study author Andrew Hyland, chair of health behaviour at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, in Buffalo, N.Y.

Researchers discovered that smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke were found to be associated with fertility problems and an earlier onset of menopause (i.e. prior to the typical age of 50).

Current or ex-smokers were found to be around 14% more likely to be infertile and 26% more likely to experience an earlier menopause in comparison to those that had never smoked. Hyland stressed that early menopause has been linked with a higher risk of death from all causes.

The study also found that for the never-smokers exposed to the highest levels of second-hand smoke – such as living with a smoker for a decade or more – were an estimated 18% more likely to have fertility problems and early menopause.

Women who had previously smoked, reached the menopause on average about 22 months before the women that had neither smoked or been exposed to smoke. Moreover, it was found those exposed to the highest level of passive smoke reached menopause 13 months earlier than those not exposed.
This latest study is just one of many important reminders that we should avoid all smoke, said Patricia Folan, director of the Center for Tobacco Control at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y.

“This study provides additional motivation and incentive for women of all ages to avoid smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke, as well as to quit smoking,” she said. Both are associated with premature birth, low birth weight, infant death and certain birth defects, she added.

“This evidence, in addition to the data from the current study, offers health care providers, particularly ob-gyn practitioners, the information needed to counsel women about the hazards of smoking and second-hand smoke, and to encourage cessation,” Folan said.

Walnuts are cracking; they can give men super sperm

Eating a handful a walnuts a day can keep infertility at bay. Those are the claims emanating from scientists in the US who claim that consuming just 75 grams of the tree nut can boost sperm health in young males. They have published their intriguing discoveries in the journal Biology of Reproduction.

Currently in the UK it is thought that approximately one in six or seven couples have complications trying to conceive. This works out at 3.5 million people in Britain, with 40% of the problems conceiving because of an issue with the male. More often than not, this is due to poor quality of semen; the liquid that contains the sperm. The problem of infertility/subfertility is not just limited to the UK however, with an estimated 70 million couples across the globe experiencing such issues.

This new study examining infertility in males was conducted by Dr Wendie Robbins and her team of experts at the University of California, Los Angeles. They recruited 117 men who were all in good health and aged between 21 to 35 years of age. Participants were segregated into two separate groups to ascertain what benefits can be had from a sustained consumption of walnuts.

Both of the groups were allowed to continue eating their ‘western-style diet’, but one group were specificially instructed to refrain from eating any kind of tree nut, whereas the others were told to include 2.6 ounces (75 grams) of whole-shelled walnuts into their daily diet. The researchers settled upon an intake of 75 grams of walnuts as preceding studies had strongly indicated that this level would be sufficient to prevent weight gain in healthy men, yet at the same time it would also be successful in affecting blood lipid levels.

After 12 weeks had passed, Dr Wendie and her team investigated if there were any differences in sperm quality between the two groups of men. She spoke on the results after the three months and said, “We found a significant improvement in sperm parameters in the group that consumed the walnuts. The men who ate no tree nuts saw no change.”

Other factors that were noted was that as predicted, there were no significant changes to body weigh or body mass index in either party. Those who had been eating the walnuts saw a rise in omega-6 and omega-3 (ALA) fatty acid levels.  As a result, researchers found improvement in sperm motility, vitality and morphology in these men. If that wasn’t good enough, the men eating the walnuts had less chromosomal abnormalities when contrasted to the others.

The encouraging signs of the study caught the eye of Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield. He gave his thoughts on the US research and commented, “It would be relatively easy to poke fun at studies like this, but there is increasing evidence to show that aspects of a man’s diet can affect the number and quality of sperm produced by his testicles.”

On the flip side though, he did stress for caution in interpreting the findings and further added, “The study has been well executed and my only criticism would be that the men in the walnut-eating arm of the trial could have altered other aspects of their behaviour to give the results shown in the paper. A better trial would be to produce tablets of walnut extract that looked identical to a placebo so that the study was completely blind. In spite of this, the results of the study show a small but statistically significant improvement in sperm health.”

Mum had baby after doctor gave her viagra

THRILLED Kerry Horan is a mum at last after medics broke new ground by treating her infertility - with VIAGRA (the erectile dysfunction pill).

Specialists prescribed the male sex pill after heartbroken Kerry, 34, had a miscarriage and three rounds of IVF failed.

Kerry is believed to be the first success with the method after having 6lb 11oz Grace in December.

The mum and hubby David, 33, started trying for a family after they wed in 2002. She fell pregnant in 2005, but miscarried at 12 weeks.

It showed blood flow to her womb was poor, meaning the lining was too thin for an embryo to implant successfully.

Director Dr George Ndukwe recommended Viagra - a blood flow booster. He said: "It can improve the lining, but can be dangerous and must be taken under supervision."

Kerry said: "I was shocked when they mentioned it, but willing to try anything. Minutes after taking it my body went pink and my face bright red.
"I took Viagra for nine days and it wasn't a pleasant experience."

A scan showed Kerry's womb wall had thickened enough for doctors to implant IVF embryos. Kerry fell pregnant two weeks later.

Teacher Kerry, of Huddersfield, West Yorks, said: "When we saw the baby's heartbeat on a scan we couldn't stop crying. When I finally held Grace it was the most emotional experience. Thanks to Viagra I'm a mother at last!"

Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/health/health/2902992/Mum-had-a-baby-after-doctor-gave-her-Viagra.html#ixzz0izOxCUhV

Infertility linked to prostate cancer

Infertile men may have an increased risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer, researchers reported on Monday in what could be an important move toward identifying those who will benefit from screening for the disease.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men, affecting about 160 per 100,000 every year and killing 26. While doctors can screen for it, many prefer not to do so because most tumours grow slowly and never cause any harm.
The researchers tracked more than 22,000 Californian men who had been evaluated for infertility between 1967 and 1998.

Over the decade following the evaluation, 1.2 percent of the infertile men developed prostate cancer, compared to only 0.4 percent of the fertile men. Both of those figures are higher than would be expected in the general population, possibly because these men are more likely to visit health-care professionals and get diagnosed.

After accounting for age, infertility increased the chances of being diagnosed with aggressive tumours 2.6 times. For slow-growing cancers, the risk climbed 1.6 times, the authors report in the journal Cancer.

"The absolute risk of men developing prostate cancer is still very small," said Dr. Thomas Walsh of the University of Washington, who led the research. "What is surprising is that we see this high rate of high-grade prostate cancer."
He said the specific effect on aggressive tumours was important for two reasons. First, it means the increased risk is not just a result of infertile men being screened more often because of their visits to the urologist. Had that been the case, researchers would expect to see the same increase in slow-growing cancers.
Second, infertility might point to more lethal cancers, singling out men who should give an extra thought to screening.

It is not yet clear what could account for the link between infertility and prostate cancer. But researchers speculate that damages to the male sex chromosome -- for instance through exposure to environmental toxins in the womb -- may be involved.
Other risk factors for prostate cancer include older age, being African American, family history and obesity.

The American Urological Association - of which Walsh is a member -- recommends screening for men aged 40 or older. However, Walsh said he did not believe that all young men with fertility problems should be screened.
Still, he said that if the findings are confirmed, doctors might consider lowering the screening threshold when seeing infertile patients.

Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, agreed. The Cancer Society recommends that doctors discuss the pros and cons of screening with patients at age 50.

"A man who has infertility problems should take (the new findings) into consideration when thinking about prostate cancer screening," Brawley, who was not involved in the study, told Reuters Health.

The treatments for prostate cancer -- surgery or radiation -- may lead to incontinence and erectile dysfunction in about a third of patients.
"We treat a lot of prostate cancers that don't need to be treated," said Brawley. "We desperately need studies that will point to markers of aggressiveness."