Male Fertility Not Fountain Of Youth

Turns out male fertility isn’t the regenerating fountain of youth everyone thinks it is. It seems old sperm is just as bad for your future offsping as old eggs are:

Researchers at the University of Queensland found that children born to older fathers have, on average, lower scores on tests of intelligence than those born to younger dads. Data they analyzed from more than 33,000 American children showed that the older the man when a child is conceived, the lower a child’s score is likely to be on tests of concentration, memory, reasoning and reading skills, at least through age 7.
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It was a small difference — just a few I.Q. points separated a child born to a 20-year-old and a child born to a 50-year-old. But it adds weight to a new consensus-in-the-making: there is no fountain of youth for sperm, no “get out of aging free” card. The little swimmers, scientists are finding, one study at a time, get older and less dependable along with every other cell in the male body.

Not only may IQ may be an issue as men (and their sperm) age but schizophrenia, autism and bipoloar disorder are also conditions that babies born to old men ae more inclined to suffer. And the men don’t even have to be that old. Male infertility begins to decrease when men hit 30…sound familiar? It seems, fellas, that the best age to have children for women is also the best age to have children for men.

I know some women who swear men have a ticking clock and it turns out they may be right. So ladies, as you fret about your biological clock and start looking at the man best able to sire your future children, maybe..just maybe…you can start putting an expiration date on the men you see, you know..in a similar way that they do to us.