Annie Fox for Teens... Hey, Terra!

Annie (AKA Hey Terra!) has been around long enough to have experienced a lot of what Life can dish out. But, it hasn’t been so long that she's forgotten what it's like to be your age. Check out some of the thousands of email questions teens from around the world have sent to Terra. You may learn something useful from her answers:

Sex and Sexuality:
“Does marijuana affect sperm count?”

Hey Terra,

I was thinking about a question and I kind of figured that you could help me with it. If there is a guy that is supposedly temporarily infertile because of marijuana use and is still smoking what can be done to keep the body healthy of where he can become fertile again other than stop smoking?? (Example: Drink a lot of Orange Juice, exercise??)

Curious

Dear Curious,

Click here for an excellent article that answers your questions.

To summarize, marijuana DOES impact male fertility. This is not a myth.

"Smokers Have Lower Total Sperm Count -- Men who smoke marijuana frequently have significantly less seminal fluid, a lower total sperm count and their sperm behave abnormally, all of which may affect fertility adversely, a recent study in reproductive physiology at the University at Buffalo has shown. (October 2003)"
This is from a University at Buffalo Press Release.

As for your question about whether the infertility is "temporary" and fertility will return to 'normal' if the man stops smoking, here's what the study had to say:

"As to the question of whether fertility potential returns when smokers stop using marijuana: Burkman said the issue hasn't been studied well enough to provide a definitive answer.

"THC remains stored in fat for a long period, so the process may be quite slow. We can't say that everything will go back to normal. Most men who have borderline fertility are unaware of that fact. It's difficult to know who is at risk. I definitely would advise anyone trying to conceive not to smoke marijuana, and that would include women as well as men."

As for you question about drinking orange juice and/or exercising to counter the effects of marijuana smoking on male fertility, I didn't find that information in this article.

I'd suggest that you go to click here to do a Google search for: marijuana infertility.

Good luck.

In friendship,

Terra


Need some advice? Write to Terra. She'll give you a straight answer you can trust without any lectures.


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