THE MIRROR – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made repeated claims that teenage boys today have half the sperm that men in their 60s do.
The US healthcare official has made the claims repeatedly in interviews and speeches.
Kennedy said the fertility drop has been caused by a decrease in testosterone levels in teenage boys caused by environmental chemicals and processed foods. He described the issue as “an existential problem” when speaking to Fox News’ Jesse Watters in April.
“I knew RFK Jr was nuts but I didn’t know he was *this* nuts.” – John Gruber, technology blogger
The nephew of former US president John F. Kennedy said: “We have fertility rates that are just spiraling.
A teenager today, an American teenager, has less testosterone than a 68-year-old man.” Kennedy also claims sperm counts are down 50% and girls are hitting puberty six years early.
Research has found sperm counts are declining, while other studies claimed this not the case(Image: Getty Images)
Kennedy’s remarks fuel a theory that men’s fertility is under threat. The claim has been spread online by various wellness influencers, tech startups, and young men on social media.
‘Nuts on a lot of fronts’: – New York Post on Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
According to a 2022 study, “semen retention” was the most popular men’s health subject debated on TikTok and Instagram. The fears have led to some young men to freeze their sperm, stop having sex, or have testosterone replacement therapy …
‘No Cause for Panic’ as Sperm Counts Found To Be Steady
January 13, 2025
Sperm counts haven’t declined among American men in recent years, new research from Cleveland Clinic finds.
Several high-profile papers had suggested that sperm counts have drastically fallen globally over the past few decades. In contrast, the new data suggests that’s not the case, at least among men in the United States without known infertility.
“We found that at least in men with no known fertility challenges, sperm counts are largely stable and haven’t changed significantly in the last few years, which is reassuring news. It doesn’t necessarily mean that sperm counts among infertile men aren’t worsening, but it does mean that for the average man, there’s no cause for panic,” says lead investigator Scott D. Lundy, MD, PhD, Urology Program Director at Cleveland Clinic.
A closer look at the data
Dr. Lundy, along with colleagues from two other institutions, performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published between 1970 and 2023, of U.S. men without known infertility, confirmed or not.
A total of 58 articles met inclusion criteria, representing 75 unique studies of sperm concentration estimates in a total of 11,787 men. Of the 75 estimates, 51 were of populations of men with unknown fertility status, while the other 24 were of men confirmed to be fertile.
No changes in sperm concentrations were seen across the study populations over the 53-year period (P = 0.42), with similar results after adjustment for U.S. census region …
