Can eating bacon affect fertility?

A new study from Harvard School of Public Health showed that men who eat a lot of bacon have lower sperm quality. According to the study, processed meats and sausages also leads to poor quality semen. 

New York Daily News reported researchers were curious about the hormones cattle are given to stimulate growth just before slaughter. It tested more than 350 samples of semen from 156 men who answered questions about their eating habits.

"What brought up our concern is how meat is produced in the United States," Dr. Jorge Chavarro, one of the researchers, told the Daily News. "Many beef producers give cattle natural or synthetic hormones to stimulate growth, a few days or weeks before the animals are killed. We wanted to examine how these hormones might affect people who consume them."

The study found eating processed red meat has a negative effect on "sperm morphology," which is the size and shape of sperm's cell structures. This can lead to having abnormal sperm can contribute to infertility.

Even if men ate only one strip of bacon or one sausage per day, researchers found men had 30 percent fewer normal sperm than those who had a diet rich in fish. The study also found that a diet, which includes fish can lead to men having a better sperm count. Men who are trying conceive should avoid eating bacon and other processed meat.

Previous studies have linked dairy products and carbohydrate-heavy diets with sperm decline.