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Scientists warn men should quit drinking at least three months before conceiving a child
Researchers warn men to quit drinking at least three months before conceiving in order to avoid negative health implications for the baby.
When you are considering starting a family, its important to live a healthy lifestyle thats not just advice for the mother, but the father too. This week, new research has suggested that men looking to have a child should quit drinking alcohol at least three months before conceiving, much later than previously thought.
When men should stop drinking before conceiving
From irregular placenta development and brain defects to IVF, semen from men who regularly drink alcohol can negatively impact the health of both baby and mother during pregnancy in a variety of ways.
However, abstaining from liquor in the days and weeks leading up to conceiving might not be enough to significantly reduce these risks.
In fact, a team of researchers from Texas A&M University found that it takes months longer than previously thought for the negative impact of alcohol consumption to leave a mans sperm.
When you drink, your liver experiences something called oxidative stress which leads to the overproduction of certain chemicals in your body. That problem continues when you go ‘cold turkey’.
When someone is consuming alcohol on a regular basis and then stops, their body goes through withdrawal, where it has to learn how to operate without the chemical present, explained author Dr Michael Golding.
“What we discovered is that a father’s sperm are still negatively impacted by drinking even during the withdrawal process, meaning it takes much longer than we previously thought for the sperm to return to normal.”
So, when should you stop drinking before conceiving in order to reduce the potential risks?
There’s still a lot of work to be done to get a hard answer, but we know that sperm are made over the course of 60 days, and the withdrawal process takes at least one month. So, my estimate would be to wait at least three months.”
Aside from the societal and behavioral impact on an expecting father, this research has significant implications regarding FAS rates in infants; Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which can lead to abnormal facial features, low birth weight, attention and hyperactivity issues, and poor coordination.
For years, there’s really been no consideration of male alcohol use whatsoever. Within the last five to eight years, we’ve started to notice that there are certain conditions where there’s a very strong paternal influence when it comes to alcohol exposure and fetal development.
Golding argued that there is a psychological trauma associated with asking parents Did you drink while you were pregnant, but that trauma is vitally important for physicians to address early.
It’s also difficult for physicians to have that conversation. But if they don’t, then FAS doesn’t get diagnosed right away and the child may not get the support that they need until later in life.”
In summary, men are advised to quit drinking around three months before conceiving a child, and expecting parents should always be respectful of medical professionals asking personal questions about their drinking habits its all for the health of the baby.
The research paper is available to read via Wiley Online Librarys Andrology journal.
