A new study has presented some interesting findings. Apparently, male e-cigarette users could be at risk of having smaller testicles and lower sperm counts.
New research conducted on male rats has shown that vaping can shrink the size of testicles, hampering sex drive and reducing sperm count, the New York Post reported.
Turkish scientists measured rats’ testicle size before and after exposing the animals to cigarette smoke and e-cigarette vapors. They also identified biomarkers of stress in the blood and genitals.
The effects of conventional cigarette smoke, as previous studies suggest, are even worse on the male organ, researchers determined. The group of rats exposed to cigarette smoke had the lowest of all three counts, with an 89 million sperm per milliliter count. Their testes also measured the smallest and weighed less.
The sperm count of rats exposed to e-cigarette vapor was 95.1 million sperm per milliliter, compared to 98.5 million per milliliter in the group who were not exposed to any nicotine.
“It should be considered that although [e-cigarette] liquid has been introduced as harmless in smoking cessation studies, it could increase oxidative stress and cause morphological changes in the testicle,” researchers wrote in their report that was published in the Spanish-language journal Revista Internacional de Andrología.
In 2020, Danish researchers conducted a similar study that found men who used e-cigarettes daily had a significantly lower total sperm count than non-vapers, however, authors of the current study say more human data is needed to support these findings — as e-cigarettes have been touted as an effective method to help people kick their tobacco habit.
“To be a safe option in smoking cessation studies, its effect on people needs to be enlightened,” they concluded.
An estimated 12 million adults use e-cigarettes while millions more children and teens have been added to the vaping population, despite age restrictions.
