- Penis sizes are shrinking,
which you might have seen from these headlines
all over the internet.
And in the last 40 years, sperm counts in men
have decreased by 50%
and the distance between the anus
and the genitals in boys,
aka the taint has been shrinking.
So today we are going to explain what is going on.
Testosterone levels in men have been declining since 1982.
A meta analysis of over 185 studies
that looked at over 48,000 men,
found that between the years of 1973
and 2011 male sperm concentration had decreased by 52%
and overall sperm count had decreased by 59%.
26% of men who have erectile dysfunction
are now under the age of 40.
Looking at sperm bank semen in 1963,
one teaspoon of sperm which is your average ejaculation
would have had 99 million viable sperm per milliliter.
By 2011, it had fallen all the way
to only 49 million viable sperm.
And the decrease in the sperm counts, sperm concentration
and viable sperm
is why now male fertility issues contribute 1/4 to 1/3
of all fertility issues.
And now we are starting to understand finally
why this is happening.
It comes down to plastics, pesticides, and the chemicals
in the products that we're using every day.
Plastics, pesticides and chemicals
in our products contain EDCs,
endocrine disrupting chemicals.
These chemicals can bind to hormone sites in our body
and fool our bodies into thinking
they're the natural hormone.
Hormones are signaling molecules in your body
that are a part of your amazing endocrine system.
The endocrine system consists of these glands in your body
that secrete hormones in order for your organs
and your tissues to essentially communicate.
For example, when stressed
your brain will signal your pituitary gland
to release ACTH, and this pituitary gland is in your brain.
No, it is not your testicles, even though it looks like it.
The ACTH enters the blood where it then makes its way
to your adrenal gland.
Now the adrenal gland secretes cortisol
another hormone that enters the bloodstream
and then increases glucose within your body
to help you deal with that stress.
This is just one example
of endocrine biological signaling processes
but there are many more that control how you breathe,
how your digestion works
and even the sensory you feel when you touch a wall.
Back to the endocrine disrupting chemicals or EDCs,
they can also control
how our natural hormones are broken down and stored.
And they also change our body's sensitivity
to the real hormones.
So let's start with
the endocrine disrupting chemicals phthalates
These chemicals are in plastics
'cause they make them soft and flexible.
They're also in floor coverings,
and soap, and hair spray.
One study of 72 common household objects
found phthalates in three quarters of the products
such as deodorant, and hair gels, and fragrances.
So in rats, if the expectant mother is exposed to phthalates
18 to 21 days after mating,
the male pups will have a decrease in testosterone.
In humans, if an expectant mother is exposed to phthalates
between week eight to 12 of the embryo's development
they can disrupt testosterone
and lead to boys coming out
with a decreased penis size, lower sperm counts
and a smaller ADG, a smaller taint
Now let's look at the BPA
which you may have heard a lot about.
It can be found in non-state coatings
and lots of different plastics and electronics
and also in receipt paper.
Men working at factories with high levels of BPA
had their urine examined
that turned out that increased levels of BPA in their urine
led to four times lower sperm counts,
three times lower sperm vitality
and decreased sperm mobility.
Sons of men with high BPA exposure had decreased ADGs
and were more likely to have ejaculation issues
and decreased sexual desire.
And there are a lot of other chemicals
that disrupt endocrine hormones from those in plastic toys
and air fresheners, nail Polish, pesticides
to the grease and stain repellents and fast food containers,
and the dioxins found in meat and dairy,
all of which have an impact on sperm count
taint size or penis length.
It's not just EDCs and plastics and pesticides
that are decreasing male fertility,
it's also other things that we are just doing to our body.
Smoking cigarettes, or even just exposure
to secondhand smoke can actually cause damage to our sperm.
It can decrease our testosterone
and decrease our ability for the little guys
to make its way to the egg.
And right now men smoke five times as much as women
which is causing a decrease in male fertility.
And it's not just cigarettes, sadly,
also those marijuana smokers, like me, also have to look out
because a 2015 study in Denmark
found that smoking marijuana more than once a week
led to a 29% decrease in sperm count.
Also curing meat with nitrites and nitrates
and the chlorinated pollutants
that can be found in animal meat and dairy
can damage your sperms DNA.
Men who eat more processed meat
have a decreased sperm count
and decreased normally shaped semen.
And this could be caused by the endocrine issues
that these chemicals in these meats have.
One thing is becoming extremely clear,
which is that the chemicals we are now using
in our modern world
are creating a decrease in male fertility
so much so that a variety of studies
have found a 1% decrease in testosterone
in men per year, since 1982.
As for what you can do right now at home
you can eat less meat and dairy,
you can not heat up things in plastic containers
'cause that can actually have the chemicals
seep into your food,
you can eat less takeout and fast food
as the actual packaging can be an issue in those cases
as well as the gloves that fast food workers wear
while they're preparing your food.
One study found that teenagers who ate out more
had a 55% increase in some of these EDCs
as compared to teenagers who solely ate at home.
If you do use a non-stick pan, keeping the heat low
and for shorter periods of time
and if you ever see any sort of flaking on them,
get rid of them.
Dilates can leach into food in processing practices
and in food packaging,
so, eating less processed food
or food with less packaging can also help.
We need to regulate corporations
so that they can't just use these chemicals on us.
Right now corporations can experiment with our bodies.
The way that this regulation works,
so it's kind of innocent until proven guilty.
So only when we start to realize the detrimental effects
of these chemicals, do we then start to regulate them.
We need to change that order.
You may have seen this tweet from Greta Thunberg.
I think it's rather smart and funny,
and we will see you at the next climate match.
We need to hit the streets and hold our governments
and our corporations accountable
when it comes to regulating
these chemicals out of our bodies.
They need to keep us safe,
they need to help us lead healthier lives.
And we didn't even really know the effects
that these chemicals were gonna have on us
and now that we do,
we need to figure out how to get them out.
This is really important so that we can keep
all of our (beep).
If you wanna learn more,
grab the book "Count Down" by Shanna Swan.
She's sort of ringing the alarm on all of these issues,
I am just helping her try
and get this information out there.
The book is full of amazing resources
and gives you a really great understanding
of what is going on here.
Thank you so much for watching
and we will see you next week
for a new science video, peace.