Study Shows How Vaping Affects Sperm Count and Testicle Size

E-cigarettes have been touted as a less damaging alternative to traditional cigarettes for years now, although vaping can still cause damage to the heart and lungs, among other things. But if that wasn't enough reason to stay away, a new study has found that vaping can have an adverse affect on sex drive in men, shrinking testicles and lowering sperm count.

The study, which was conducted by Turkish scientists, subjected adult male rats to e-cigarette vape and cigarette smoke in a specially designed glass bell jar, and then examined factors such as testicular weights, testicular histology, gonadosomatic index, sperm count, and sperm motility, when compared to a control group. What the researchers found was that rats exposed to e-cigarette vapor had a sperm count of 95.1 million sperm per milliliter, compared to 98.5 million per milliliter among the rats that were not exposed to any nicotine substances.

However, rats exposed to traditional cigarette smoke fared by far the worst, with sperm counts 89 million sperm per milliliter. Rats exposed to cigarette smoke also had smaller and lighter testes, as well as fewer sperm able to swim than the e-cigarette and unexposed groups. 

"The results of this study showed changes in testicular histopathology, spermiogram, and oxidative stress parameters of rats exposed to cigarette and [e-cigarette] smoke," write the authors of the study. "Therefore, it should be considered that although EC liquid has been introduced as harmless in smoking cessation studies, it could increase oxidative stress and cause morphological changes in the testicle."

However, the study added that more research would be needed to understand the post-exposure spermiogram results.

This isn't the first time vaping has been linked to a decreased sperm count. In 2020, a Danish study took semen and blood samples from a cross-section men in the general population who filled out a lifestyle questionnaire that included information on smoking and vaping behavior. Daily cigarette and e-cigarette users were likewise found to have significantly lower total sperm count when compared to non-users.

The study noted that it "could be important knowledge for men trying to achieve a pregnancy, as e-cigarettes are often considered to be less harmful than conventional cigarette smoking."

As Stanton Glantz, Ph.D., a cardiologist and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California San Francisco told Men's Journal last year, just because e-cigarettes are healthier doesn’t necessarily make them healthy. And the effects could be even worse for smokers who supplement their nicotine habit with vaping.

"There’s an assumption made by most e-cigarette users that the device is like a cigarette, but not as bad, so piling e-cigarette use on top of a regular habit of cigarettes isn’t that bad,” Glantz explained. "If you’re a dual user—which is some 70 percent of people using e-cigarettes—you’re worse off than if you were just smoking because they pose an independent risk on top of any smoking that you do."

source https://www.mensjournal.com/news/vaping-testicles-sperm-counts-study