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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on August 28, 2008
Human Reproduction 2008 23(12):2799-2805; doi:10.1093/humrep/den331
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Semen quality according to prenatal coffee and present caffeine exposure: two decades of follow-up of a pregnancy cohort

C.H. Ramlau-Hansen1,4, A.M. Thulstrup1, J.P. Bonde1, J. Olsen2 and B.H. Bech3

1 Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Norrebrogade 44, Building 2C, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark 2 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA 3 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public health, University of Aarhus 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

4 Correspondence address. E-mail: craha{at}as.aaa.dk

BACKGROUND: A few studies have investigated the association between male caffeine consumption in adult life and semen quality with conflicting results, but so far no studies have explored the effect of prenatal coffee exposure. We studied the association between prenatal coffee and current caffeine exposure and semen quality and levels of reproductive hormones.

METHODS: From a Danish pregnancy cohort established in 1984–1987, 347 sons out of 5109 were selected for a follow-up study conducted 2005–2006. Semen and blood samples were analyzed for conventional semen characteristics and reproductive hormones and were related to information on maternal coffee consumption during pregnancy and present caffeine consumption. Data were available for 343 men.

RESULTS: There was a tendency toward decreasing crude median semen volume (P = 0.06) and adjusted mean testosterone (P = 0.06) and inhibin B (P = 0.09) concentrations with increasing maternal coffee consumption during pregnancy. Sons of mothers drinking 4–7 cups/day had lower testosterone levels than sons of mothers drinking 0–3 cups/day (P = 0.04). Current male caffeine intake was associated with increasing testosterone levels (P = 0.007). Men with a high caffeine intake had ~14% higher concentration of testosterone than those with a low caffeine intake (P = 0.008).

CONCLUSIONS: The results observed in this study are only tentative, but they do not exclude a small to moderate effect of prenatal coffee exposure on semen volume and levels of reproductive hormones. Present adult caffeine intake did not show any clear associations with semen quality, but high caffeine intake was associated with a higher testosterone concentration.

Key words: caffeine/prenatal exposure/reproductive hormones/risk factor/sperm count

Submitted on May 16, 2008; resubmitted on August 5, 2008; accepted on August 6, 2008.


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