In the last 50 years, men have lost 51.6% of spermatozoa per ejaculation. A trend that, in the short term, worries couples who want to start a family. The debate began last fall when scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem published a meta-analysis in the Human Reproduction Update journal comparing various sperm records between 1973 and 2018. The participants in these studies were healthy men from 57 countries and without previous problems. of health that could condition their fertility. The team focused on two parameters: sperm concentration and total sperm count.
Sperm concentration is the number of spermatozoa per milliliter of semen. It is considered normal when the concentration is higher than 15 million. The total count is the concentration of sperm in the entire ejaculate. The normal thing is that it is above 39 million sperm. Values ​​below these parameters are considered oligozoospermia (the pathology that determines a low sperm concentration) and can compromise fertility.
Since 1973, when the first studies began, the number of spermatozoa has gone from 335.7 million spermatozoa per ejaculate to 126.6 million in 2018. The concentration has also plummeted: from 101 million per milliliter in the first year of the that there are records of 49 million already entered this century. The most worrying thing is that the rate of decline accelerates as we get closer to the present: if in the 70s sperm concentration decreased at an annual rate of 1.16%, in the new millennium the trend has dangerously accelerated to 2 .64% in 2018.
The authors of the work emphasize that they only expose the numerical reality, not the causes of this decline. They explicitly point out the need to deepen the data with new studies that examine the possible causes, although they open the door for the explanations to be in life habits and even in exposure to certain hormonal disruptors or other conditioning factors already from the womb maternal.
The situation is critical. So much so that even a healthy couple can have fertility problems due to environmental factors that affect the production and quality of sperm in men and the alteration of the menstrual cycle in the ovulation of women.
However, it is also true that more and more solutions are offered on the market to increase the chances of conceiving.
The long journey to the ovum and the vaginal pH turn this journey into a race on hostile ground for spermatozoa. To facilitate this journey and increase the chances of pregnancy, there are systems that increase the presence of sperm near the cervix.
This is the case with the enna fertility kit. It includes a gel – enna fertility gel – that helps the survival, motility and viability of spermatozoa; and, it fluidizes the cervical mucus to facilitate its passage towards the uterus. It also improves the vaginal microbiota, that is, the set of microorganisms (90% Lactobacillus) that inhabit the vagina, to avoid infections and that the environment does not become hostile for conception.
The method is simple. It is applied daily between days 11 and 17 of the menstrual cycle, as well as just after ejaculation. Next, the enna fertility cap, a kind of flexible medical grade silicone plug, is inserted into the vaginal cavity. This reusable, washable and biocompatible device with the vaginal mucosa retains and gently pushes the sperm towards the cervix. This manual ‘nudge’ increases their chances of reaching the uterus alive and in full reproductive capacity. In addition, it acts as a barrier and protects sperm from unfavorable conditions in the vagina, such as pH and osmolarity.
