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Soy foods linked to lower sperm counts

BOSTON, July 24 (UPI) -- Men who eat an average of half a serving of soy food a day have lower concentrations of sperm than men who do not eat soy, U.S. researchers said.

Dr. Jorge Chavarro of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues found that men who ate the most soy food had 41 million sperm per milliliter less than men who did not consume any soy products. A normal sperm concentration for men ranges between 80-million to 120 million per milliliter.

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The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, also said the association was particularly marked in men who were overweight or obese.

The researchers analyzed the intake of 15 soy-based foods in 99 men who had attended a fertility clinic with their partners to be evaluated for sub-fertility between 2000 and 2006. Different foods have different levels of isoflavones -- plant-derived compounds with estrogenic effects -- in them, and the researchers related the size of the serving to the particular food.

"Men in the highest intake group had a mean soy food intake of half a serving per day: or one cup of soy milk or one serving of tofu, tempeh or soy burgers every other day," Chavarro said in a statement.

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