- Many men are sporty and athletic
and they want to look
good and they go to gyms
and they do all that they
can to have a nice physique
and have good cardiovascular function.
That is to be supported
because it will impact on so many
different areas of their lives.
But there are a couple of dangers for men
who are wanting to be fathers,
both in the short and medium term.
One of the classic reasons
why some men have no sperm is
because they are anabolic steroid users,
and they've used anabolic steroids in gyms
in order to build muscle mass.
And anabolic steroids really disrupt
the hormones that
control sperm production.
So any man who is taking anabolic steroids
runs the risk of infertility.
It is reversible, but it can
take many years to recover.
Now, a modern worrying trend is men
who use protein shakes as an alternative
to anabolic steroids in order
to try and build muscle mass.
And there is a worrying trend
that we are seeing in clinics
of poor sperm quality in men
who claim to use protein shakes.
We're not quite sure why this is.
We do think that occasionally,
some of these protein
shakes may be contaminated
with anabolic steroid type substances,
and so, although the men are trying
to avoid the use of anabolic steroids,
they may be inadvertently actually
taking them by taking some of these
protein shakes that are
contaminated in that way.
My advice is go to the gym and sweat
and work hard and try and
build your muscle mass
and try and be lean naturally.
Do try and avoid taking protein shakes
and certainly avoid
taking anabolic steroids
if you want to have healthy sperm
and you want to be fertile.
