[ipdashc]

I think I'm missing something. On the Results in study [b], they say

> Semen parameters did not seem affected by caffeine intake, at least caffeine from coffee, tea and cocoa drinks, in most studies. Conversely, other contributions suggested a negative effect of cola-containing beverages and caffeine-containing soft drinks on semen volume, count and concentration.

If tea and coffee don't cause an effect, but cola and soft drinks do, doesn't that imply it's sugar, not caffeine?

[Knufen]

There is an ongoing discussion on the effect of caffein on sperm quality. There are articles which describes a possible route for DNA damage to the sperm from caffein https://www.cureus.com/articles/109365-effect-of-stress-and-.... From personal (lab) experience there is a clear difference to the smell of sperm from a coffee to a non coffee drinker, so it ends up there somehow. Whether it truly has an effect is still being discussed.

[Tagbert]

Caffeine has no smell so what you are detecting is some other component or effect on the semen taste. Many things can affect the taste of semen.

[calmdownpeople]

He said smell not taste! At least I hope he wasn't tasting the lab samples.

[fnordpiglet]

Just the semen.

[vineyardmike]

“Lab samples”

[e12e]

He didn't specify difference between de-caf coffee vs regular - only coffee vs non-coffee - so might be something other than caffeine that effects smell?

[Tagbert]

Coffee contains a large number of aromatic components that could be transferred to the semen. Just the way methyl mercaptan from asparagus can be transferred to your urine.

[asdff]

What about pineapples?

[et-al]

Could be correlated to issue 1 with plastic containers. In the US, soda generally comes in aluminum cans or 2L plastic bottles, whereas coffee and tea aren't.

Anyways, I still think sedentary lifestyles and stress play a larger role than plastics, but those are harder to isolate and control for researchers.

[gabea]

Aluminum soda cans are actually lined with plastic. So either way you are going to be consuming soda from plastic.

See this link -> https://interestingengineering.com/science/new-viral-video-r...

And this one about BPA which is quite cringeworthy from Coca-Cola -> https://www.coca-cola.ca/faqs/coca-cola-faqs-health/do-coca-...

[pdpi]

Well, the two sentences following your quote read:

> 2. As regards sperm DNA defects, caffeine intake seemed associated with aneuploidy and DNA breaks, but not with other markers of DNA damage > 3. Finally, male coffee drinking was associated to prolonged time to pregnancy in some, but not all, studies.

And then goes on to conclude:

> The literature suggests that caffeine intake, possibly through sperm DNA damage, may negatively affect male reproductive function.

The whole abstract points at weak/inconclusive results, but we're definitely talking about caffeine here, not sugar.

[ljf]

Or drinks stored in plastic bottles or plastic lined cans? Vs tea/coffee brewed and served in metal/ceramic vessels?