Groundbreaking Research Finds Alcohol Impacts Sperm Quality More Than Previously Thought

It's common knowledge that women don't drink while they're pregnant, and even throughout the time they're trying to conceive. But what about the male partner in question? According to groundbreaking new research published in the journal Andrology, men's alcohol habits could have more of an impact on sperm quality and fetal development than we previously realized. Here's what they found.

“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,” Golding says, adding, “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 if you thought you could stop drinking one day and immediately have primo sperm, that unfortunately doesn't seem to be the case. Golding notes they still need to research more on when exactly to stop drinking if you're trying to conceive, but he estimates it could be for at least three months.

Women aren't the only ones who should abstain from drinking while they're trying to conceive; This research shows that men, too, would serve their families well to stop drinking for at least three months before conceiving.