Male factors contribute to about half of all infertility cases. Despite this, infertility is still considered a women’s health problem.
That’s why Colton Underwood, television personality and former football player, joined a panel at the HLTH conference in Las Vegas to discuss his own experience with male infertility. He emphasized the importance of reducing the stigma around male infertility and getting men more involved in the family-building process.
“I was surprised when I started my fertility journey with my husband, we went to our fertility clinic and after collecting our samples,… my doctor [said to me]”Well, you have four that are dead, but I could make them work.” … It was kind of a shock to me, because I looked like a healthy man, and I never thought I wouldn’t have sperm that worked, and that just took me by surprise. “After talking to my family and some of my friends, I discovered how common this is,” he said.
There were several factors that contributed to Underwood’s fertility challenges that she wasn’t aware of until she began her journey of building a family, such as frequent use of hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, wearing tight spandex while exercising, and taking testosterone replacement therapy.
After changing these habits and taking medication, his sperm health improved. He and his husband now have a one-year-old son.
Underwood isn’t the only one experiencing challenges with male infertility. This is something that both Josh Halpern, chief scientific officer of Posterity Health, and Asima Ahmad, co-founder and medical director of Carrot Fertility, have frequently encountered in their work at family-building companies. Halpern noted that many men have difficulty when they discover this information.
“There’s a lot of shame and stigma. There are a lot of guys who feel a responsibility, and we don’t like to think of fertility as a blame game, but a lot of guys, whether they’re competitive or have a different type of phenotype, really take it very seriously,” he said on the panel. “I think part of our job as fertility specialists… is to really engage men to help them understand [that] This is really common.”
Panelists also emphasized the importance of routine fertility testing for men and increasing at-home testing options to make them more accessible. Additionally, there should be emotional and peer support for those struggling with infertility, as well as education about issues that affect fertility, such as testosterone replacement therapy.
Ultimately, this should be considered something that affects both men and women.
“I think it’s important to emphasize that infertility is not just a women’s issue,” said Asima Ahmad, co-founder and medical director of Carrot. “We’re here to make it very clear that it affects men, too. And for men, infertility isn’t just a sperm issue, either. It’s part of your overall health. It’s a whole-body, whole-person thing. Your nutrition is part of your fertility care. Your movement and exercise are part of your fertility care. The way you sleep, like your sleep quality and your stress management, are also part of your fertility care.”
Photo: HLTH Inc.