Want children? Ditch the tight undies

June 13, 2016

Tight underwear ‘single biggest risk factor’ to sperm experts say
Women who want to improve fertility chances should try with younger men
Men over 40 are far less fertile and risk children with conditions like autism

Colin Fernandez, Science Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published:
01:32 EST, 13 June 2016

|
Updated:
01:46 EST, 13 June 2016

View
comments

If men want to improve their chances of fathering a child they should not wear tight underwear, according to a fertility expert.

And if women want to improve their chances they should have a child with a young toy boy, rather than an older man in his 40s.

Fertility expert Professor Allan Pacey, from the University of Sheffield, said there was also mounting evidence that children born to men over the age of 40 were more likely to suffer from conditions like schizophrenia, autism, Down’s syndrome and dwarfism.

Men who wear tight underwear are more likely to have poor sperm than men who wear boxer shorts

‘You should be going for the hot, virile toy boys, popstars and boybands – that is where you should be heading,’ Professor Pacey told the Cheltenham Science Festival.

‘We did a study of 2,500 young men and we thought we needed to be worried about smoking and alcohol consumption.

‘The single biggest risk factor we found was wearing tight underwear.

You can’t Botox ovaries, fertility expert warns women in…

Statins ‘may be a waste of time for the over-60s’: Row over…

Have fatty foods been ‘wrongly demonised’? Government will…

Tiny balloon that cooks your insides may halt diabetes:…

‘Men who wear tight underwear are two-and-a-half more times likely to have poor sperm than men who wear boxer shorts.’

Professor Pacey said men produced sperm throughout their life, but as they got older the quality declined.

‘Men above the age of 40 are much less fertile than men under the age of 24, and arguably less successful than their partners at this age,’ he said.

Men produce sperm throughout their life but as they get older, the quality declines, saiys Professor Pacey

‘That isn’t because there has been a dramatic change in the number of sperm produced, it is just by the time you are aged 40 or 45 the quality has declined.

‘Charlie Chaplin was 72 when he had his 11th child with his fourth wife. He was quite an exception and when we pat older guys on the back for having done the deed, I think we are probably sending out the wrong message.

‘There is lots of evidence that children born to men over the age of 40 or 45 are more likely to have things like schizophrenia, autism, Down’s syndrome, dwarfism and lots of other things.

‘The health of children with older fathers is much poorer than the health of children with younger fathers.

‘A man’s contribution to the risk of miscarriage kicks in once he gets to 40. It is a little known fact that problems with sperm can independently contribute to his partner’s risk of miscarriage.’

CHILDREN OF OLDER MUMS ‘CAN’T BOND WITH GRANNY’

Parents who wait to start a family are preventing their children bonding with grandparents, a fertility expert warned yesterday.

Dr Gillian Lockwood said women’s later births meant grandparents were too old to take an active part in their grandchildren’s upbringing.

It also led to a ‘sandwich generation’ of mothers and fathers who, instead of getting help from their parents, were forced to look after them as they became more frail at the same time as working and raising their children.

Dr Lockwood said: ‘One of the most poignant aspects of the spreading generations is we might lose this wonderful relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.

‘We could end up with this zimmer frame-cum-pram-cum-shopping trolley for the woman who decided 55 was a really good time to have that baby she always wanted.’