Cooked breakfast 'cuts fertility'

This is rubbish. The sample is tiny and unrepresentative for a start. And if the findings mean anything, they probably mean that working class men (who are generally unhealthier) are more likely to eat a traditional breakfast



Men who frequently indulge in a traditional English cooked breakfast could be reducing their chances of fathering children, according to new research.

A diet rich in saturated fats - found in foods like fried bacon, sausages, butter and cream - could cut the sperm count by almost half, found researchers at Harvard Medical School in the US.

Their study discovered that it did not matter if the man was fat or thin - such a diet had the same negative effect on sperm concentration.

Dr Jill Attaman and colleagues looked at 91 men seeking fertility treatment and asked them how often they ate certain foods, what types of oil they used in cooking and baking and the types of margarine they consumed.

Of the group, 21 men also had the levels of fatty acids in their sperm and semen measured.

Presenting the study's findings at the annual American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in Denver, she said: "We were able to demonstrate that in men who took in higher amounts of fats, such as saturated fat and monounsaturated fat, there was an association with decreased sperm concentration."

Overall, men with the highest saturated fat intake consumed 13 per cent of their daily calories as saturated fat, while those in the lowest third took in eight per cent.

The study concluded: "Men in the highest third of saturated fat intake had 41 per cent fewer sperm than those in the lowest third. "Likewise men in the highest third of monounsaturated fat intake had 46 per cent fewer sperm than those in the lowest third."

She said diet could have a greater impact on ability to father a child among men with a lower base level of sperm concentration.

Conversely, the study found that a higher intake of polyunsaturated fats - namely omega-6 and omega-3, commonly found in oily fish - was associated with better sperm movement and shape, both indicators of fertility.

While the exact reasons for the apparent link between diet and sperm quality remain unclear, she said that "dietary modifications could be beneficial for global health as well as reproductive health".

Dr Tony Rutherford, chair of the British Fertility Society, said the study was small but the conclusion was that people should eat a healthy, balanced diet.

Meanwhile, a British expert in men's health said that it was poorly appreciated that a man was as often the cause of a couple's infertility as a woman.

Dr Allan Pacey, Senior Lecturer in andrology at Sheffield University, who will be speaking at the UK Fertility Show at the Olympia Exhibition Centre in London next week, said: "It is often misunderstood by couples trying to conceive that in nearly half of all such instances, it is problems with the man’s sperm that is either directly or partially responsible for their lack of success."

SOURCE






Ignorant Food Snobbery: Judge Orders McDonald’s to Pay Obese Employee $17,500

A Brazilian court ruled this week that McDonald’s must pay a former franchise manager $17,500 because he gained 65 pounds (30 kilograms) while working there for a dozen years. The 32-year-old man said he felt forced to sample the food each day to ensure quality standards remained high . . .The man also said the company offered free lunches to employees, adding to his caloric intake while on the job.

This is sheer idiocy. McDonald’s does not make people fat. I lost 10 pounds while working at McDonalds for a summer. McDonald’s food is not any fattier than the food served by many other restaurants. The foie gras served in fancy restaurants is much fattier than hamburgers. Quiche Lorraine is also fattier than a hamburger.

Food snobs may not like proletarian food like hamburgers, but then, I am indifferent to foie gras, which tastes a lot like canned dog food to me. Should I be able to keep food snobs from eating foie gras, just because it’s very fatty? (Ironically enough, my wife is French, so I’ve been exposed to foie gras a lot.)

There is now a big movement afoot to tax fast food in the pursuit of mythical public-health benefits. The government is also moving to restrict the salt content of food, which could lead to increased obesity rates and more heart attacks and make it harder to market low-fat foods.

SOURCE