The meaning of life?
Published 08-FEB-2019 15:58 P.M.
|
3 minute read
Hey! Looks like you have stumbled on the section of our website where we have archived articles from our old business model.
In 2019 the original founding team returned to run Next Investors, we changed our business model to only write about stocks we carefully research and are invested in for the long term.
The below articles were written under our previous business model. We have kept these articles online here for your reference.
Our new mission is to build a high performing ASX micro cap investment portfolio and share our research, analysis and investment strategy with our readers.
Click Here to View Latest Articles
It seems every sperm is sacred... if the fine writers of Monty Python's Meaning of Life can be believed.
Yet, not all semen is created equal.
Unexpectedly, a history of smoking weed has now been linked to a higher sperm count.
So, have no fear, ‘sperm will not be wasted and god will not get irate’.
Monty Python would be proud of the latest findings of a large study published in the journal Human Reproduction on Tuesday. The study conducted in the Fertility Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital, came as something of a surprise to Harvard University researchers measuring the sperm count of 600 men who were currently enrolled at fertility clinics.
They expected cannabis to have a detrimental effect on sperm count and fertility.
Instead, those participants who admitted ever taking the drug turned out to have significantly higher concentrations of sperm than non-users.
The study focused on 662 men who submitted 1,143 semen samples to the Fertility Center at Massachusetts General Hospital between 2000 and 2017.
The findings found that the 365 men who had smoked marijuana had significantly higher sperm concentration than the 297 men who had never done so.
Furthermore, there weren’t any statistically significant differences in sperm concentration between men who currently smoked weed and those who did in the past.
Analysis of the semen samples showed that men who had smoked marijuana had average sperm concentrations of 62.7 million sperm per millilitre of ejaculate while men who had never smoked marijuana had average concentrations of 45.4 million sperm per millilitre of ejaculate. Only 5% of marijuana smokers had sperm concentrations below 15 million/mL (the World Health Organisation's threshold for "normal" levels) compared with 12% of men who had never smoked marijuana.
The study also found that among marijuana smokers, greater use was associated with higher serum testosterone levels.
These results are the exact opposite of what their hypothesis predicted and what is generally thought, but they aren’t inexplicable.
“Our findings were contrary to what we initially hypothesized,” said Feiby Nassan, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and research fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Previous research on marijuana smoking had suggested that doing so lowered sperm counts.
Yet smokers shouldn’t gloat, or float, just yet.
"These unexpected findings highlight how little we know about the reproductive health effects of marijuana, and in fact of the health effects of marijuana in general," said Jorge Chavarro, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard Chan School.
"Our results need to be interpreted with caution and they highlight the need to further study the health effects of marijuana use."
There are several limitations to the findings, including participants underreporting marijuana use given its status as an illegal drug and that the study population consisted of sub-fertile men in couples seeking treatment at a fertility centre.
There are also few similar studies to compare their results against.
Like any early stage study, the results are open to interpretation and discussion; those who want to believe that sperm count isn’t affected by marijuana use, will...
... and the sceptics will maintain that having kids and marijuana smoking don’t mix.
What we do know is that both sides of the fence will always look on the bright side of life.
General Information Only
S3 Consortium Pty Ltd (S3, ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’) (CAR No. 433913) is a corporate authorised representative of LeMessurier Securities Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 296877). The information contained in this article is general information and is for informational purposes only. Any advice is general advice only. Any advice contained in this article does not constitute personal advice and S3 has not taken into consideration your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Please seek your own independent professional advice before making any financial investment decision. Those persons acting upon information contained in this article do so entirely at their own risk.
Conflicts of Interest Notice
S3 and its associated entities may hold investments in companies featured in its articles, including through being paid in the securities of the companies we provide commentary on. We disclose the securities held in relation to a particular company that we provide commentary on. Refer to our Disclosure Policy for information on our self-imposed trading blackouts, hold conditions and de-risking (sell conditions) which seek to mitigate against any potential conflicts of interest.
Publication Notice and Disclaimer
The information contained in this article is current as at the publication date. At the time of publishing, the information contained in this article is based on sources which are available in the public domain that we consider to be reliable, and our own analysis of those sources. The views of the author may not reflect the views of the AFSL holder. Any decision by you to purchase securities in the companies featured in this article should be done so after you have sought your own independent professional advice regarding this information and made your own inquiries as to the validity of any information in this article.
Any forward-looking statements contained in this article are not guarantees or predictions of future performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, and which may cause actual results or performance of companies featured to differ materially from those expressed in the statements contained in this article. S3 cannot and does not give any assurance that the results or performance expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements contained in this article will actually occur and readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
This article may include references to our past investing performance. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of our future investing performance.