How Cannabis is Improving Men's Fertility Levels

Benefits of Cannabis for Men’s Fertility

how cannabis helps sperm count fertility

The impact of cannabis on fertility is still widely argued, but there is now more convincing evidence that cannabis can actually help.

A recent study published in August 2019 in the medical journal, Human Reproduction, revealed that men who smoke cannabis had better chances of bearing children with their female partners compared with subjects who didn’t consume the drug. The study, which involved studying several hundred couples who were engaging in in vitro fertilization treatments, had surprising results for the researchers from the Boston Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Before the study began, they hypothesized that cannabis would have no impact on the fertility of either men or women, which was the same case in older, similar studies.

However, the male subjects who reported smoking cannabis were found to have higher sperm counts compared to those who never used it. But take the findings with a pinch of salt: because scientists still know very little about how cannabis affects fertility, at most, what this study does say is that cannabis had no negative impact on men who were doing fertility treatments.

Another surprising result was observed on the women who participated in the study; over 50% of those who used cannabis during fertility treatments had pregnancy loss, but 26% of those who used cannabis in the past or never did had better chances of keeping the pregnancy. For this reason, it’s safe to assume that cannabis may be a delicate drug to experiment with when women have a hard time conceiving and are doing IVF, though there are many other studies supporting the theory that cannabis can help them get pregnant.

But the researchers also believe that due to the small number of women in the study who were current cannabis users, there is still a good chance that these findings came out because of chance.

The authors concluded that there is an important need for “additional research to clarify the role of marijuana use on human reproduction and on the offspring’s health.”

Older Studies Support The Theory That Cannabis Increases Sperm Count

Earlier this year, another study, also published in Human Reproduction, similarly surprised researchers with their findings on the impact of cannabis for men’s fertility.

“We spent a good two months redoing everything, making sure that there wasn’t any error in the data,” explains Dr. Jorge Chavarro, co-author of the study and associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. “We were very, very surprised about this,” he disclosed to TIME.

For the study, the researchers analyzed semen samples and health surveys taken from over 650 men, most of whom were white, had a college education, and median age of 36. A majority of them had normal sperm counts, which Chavarro says that the reason they had conception problems may be brought about by other issues.

The surveys inquired on their present and past drug use as well as other lifestyle factors. Fifty-five percent of the men reported to smoking cannabis at one point or another, and 11% were current users. The researchers found that cannabis consumers had more likelihood of higher sperm concentrations and counts, two important metrics in determining fertility, compared to men who never smoked cannabis. Additionally, they also had less of a specific hormone that has been associated with fertility.

Another surprising finding was that past cannabis users had a slightly higher sperm count compared to current cannabis users.

“This does not mean marijuana is going to increase your sperm count,” explains Chavarro. Instead, he shares that men who have higher testosterone levels, also have higher sperm counts, and these are the men who are more likely to consume cannabis. “It is well-documented that within normal ranges, high testosterone levels are associated with greater engagement in risk-seeking behaviors, including drug use,” Chavarro says. “Higher testosterone levels are also related to slightly higher semen quality and sperm counts.”

More importantly, Chavarro says that this study is proof that scientists barely know much about cannabis and its impact on health. “We could have found what we thought we were going to find, and maybe wouldn’t have been as surprised and would have ended up writing a very different paper,” Chavarro adds. “But the fact that we showed the exact opposite forced us to look very, very deeply into the marijuana health effects literature. There is not that much. We are operating mostly on assumptions and good intentions and hunches.”

Given these findings, it all points to positive findings when it comes to cannabis for men’s fertility, but scientists clearly need more data to work with.