Treatment of Male Infertility with Traditional Chinese Medicine

A progressively dramatic drop of 45% in average sperm count, from 113 million/ml to 66 million/ml, has been reported in multiple studies over the past six decades, namely between 1940 and 1990. This drop has drawn attention to underlying environmental, occupational, lifestyle, and health hazards, the implications of which are not only local but also global with respect to trends in fertility and population. With a decline in sperm counts potentially affecting reproductive capabilities, is the declining sperm count a sign of more serious problems, especially in light of increasing assisted reproduction rates worldwide? The possibilities of factors contributing to the trend may include neuro-endocrine disruption, exposure to industrial waste, chemicals, changes in dietary habits, smoking, obesity, changes in co-morbidities, evolution, and genetics. However, the decline could also be part of a general pattern in male health and reproductive outcomes over the decades. The potential consequences of sperm count decline do not only pertain to clinical pregnancy outcomes but may also include loss of genetic variability and change in postnatal health of future generations. With increasing awareness about the phenomenon of declining sperm counts, there seems to arise an imperative call for research, medical, and political communities to come together and focus on identifying contributory factors for the drop, promotion of male reproductive health, and possible mitigation strategies. Awareness of the downward trend should stimulate campaigns regarding the importance of male reproductive health. The importance of understanding the drop in sperm count, from 113 million/ml to 66 million/ml, and its implications is first and foremost an issue of male reproductive health. It is time for greater awareness of the critical importance of taking the declining sperm count trend seriously. Furthermore, what is essentially needed is the mobilization of research and public interest to deal with this important phenomenon in reproductive health and to ultimately ensure that the future generation has the capacity to reproduce, as the trend might suggest otherwise. Attention to the worrying drop in sperm counts should not be a futile endeavor, it should instead be an initiate that ultimately breaks down to the overall well-being of humans in the future. The importance of taking preemptive action on the declining sperm counts should not be diluted. Overall, the trend can impact not only the future reproductive capabilities of our societies but could also substantially add to the human evolutionary process of change.