Consuming sugary drinks every day for a year could lead to decreased fertility in men and women, a gynecologist said on Friday.
National Cheng Kung University Hospital gynecologist Chen Ta-sheng (陳達生) cited research published in the journal Fertility and Sterility in 2017 and last year.
It said that men and women who are of a suitable age to have children could see their ovum or sperm fertility decrease 25 percent if they drink one sugary beverage every day for a year.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
The research defined sugary drinks as beverages with more than 10g of sugar per 100g of liquid.
Women who have been artificially impregnated or are undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and drink sugary drinks daily for a year are 40 percent more likely to have a miscarriage or a stillborn child than women who do not, Chen said.
The cost and the process of IVF should supersede the need for a sweet drink, he added.
In terms of diet, Chen said that plasticizers and bisphenol A are often overlooked factors that might also lead to a miscarriage.
Plasticizers are found in all plastic containers and could seep into the contents of a container when heated to a high temperature or microwaved, he said, adding that when a great quantity of plasticizers are ingested, they are considered carcinogenic and could also cause an endocrine imbalance or infertility.
Regular exercise and a healthy diet go a long way toward increasing a person’s fertility, Chen added.
Chen said that irregular menstruation, such as periods that last more than 90 days or occur fewer than nine times per year, or periods that are abnormally small, are signs of decreased fertility.
Women should consult a doctor to see if this is caused by a hormonal imbalance, polycystic ovary syndrome or ovarian failure, he said.
Young couples should first attempt natural conception for at least half a year before visiting a doctor, Chen said.
Despite advances in medicine, nothing can be done if a woman has ovarian failure or if they cannot produce “good quality” ovum, Chen said.
Women diagnosed with ovarian failure or who are older than 35 should consider cryogenically preserving their ovum, Chen added.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching