Pregnant Women Shouldn’t Eat Too Much Beef

Pregnant women, who eat lots of beef, give birth to sons, who have a low content of active sperm when they grow up. This is according to a new research.

Scientists believe that the reason can be pesticides, hormones or contaminants found in the feed for livestock. The chemicals can accumulate in the fat of animals that eat contaminated feed or grass. In addition, the cattle are regularly given hormones to stimulate their growth.

The sons of the women, who had eaten beef in large quantities (more than seven beef meals per week), demonstrated 24.3 percent below normal sperm concentration. This was stated in the article published in the journal Human Reproduction.

The Specialist Group from the University of Rochester Medical School in New York has studied the data on 387 partners of women who sought to become pregnant. The data on five U.S. cities were presented. The information on them was verified by both the mother and the father. The study was conducted between 2000 and 2005.

Of the 51 men, whose mothers were actively eating beef during pregnancy, 18% had the amount of sperm, which, according to the classification of the World Health Organization, was not enough for normal fertilization.