A Little Marijuana Mistake? –
Feb. 6, 2019 – More than one study (including one last December) has suggested that cannabis could lower men’s sperm counts or otherwise negatively affect their reproductive health. But many of these studies have only involved animals or focused on a small group of people (including the one last December). There’s also been conflicting evidence showing that pot use among men and women has no effect on a couple’s chances of conceiving.
In the latest study, published Tuesday in Human Reproduction, researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and elsewhere looked at a specific group of men: fertility clinic patients. They looked at semen samples taken from more than 600 men who had visited Massachusetts General Hospital’s fertility clinic from 2000 to 2017. Along with their medical history, the men were also asked if they had ever used cannabis and, if they had, whether they were still using it. About half of the men in the sample had also gotten a blood test, allowing the researchers to look at their levels of hormones such as testosterone.
