Is it true that wearing diapers in childhood leads to male infertility in adulthood?

Among the parents, the fear is widespread that diapers are extremely dangerous for boys - supposedly they cause overheating of the genitals, which in the future will lead to the impossibility of having children. We decided to check if there is scientific justification for such fear.

In the media from time to time there are alarming headlines about the dangers of diapers for reproductive health of babies: “Are diapers dangerous? British scientists believe that it is time to return to Marle ”(“Channel One")," Ryazan pediatricians: What diseases will your child get if you keep him in diapers? " ("Komsomolskaya Truth")," French experts: Children's diapers can further cause infertility "("Rambler News")," A generation that has grown in diapers, today is increasingly suffering from infertility - a urologist "("365 Info"). Opponents of the diapers Turn Attention to the fact that “over the past 25 years in Europe, the number of men suffering from infertility has increased. If we take into account that diapers are used there since the late 60s, the connection becomes obvious. ” The authors of some materials go further in their reasoning and They think The diapers are almost an instrument of genocide: “The main stream of diapers to Russia comes from abroad. <...> Is the supply of our country by children's diapers well -thought -out and disguised course of foreign special services to demolish demography in Russia? The version at first glance is absurd, but against the backdrop of interest shown by some foreign intelligence to collect the genetic material of Russians, it looks quite convincing. ”

A diaper, or rather, a waterproof cover for absorbing discharge, the cotton layer was Invented In 1946, American Marion Donovan, who was tired of endless washing and drying of wet clothes and bedding of her child. In the very first such case, she used a shower curtain, and then found that parachute nylon has greater water resistance, but at the same time passes the air. The inventor patented her novelty, but large companies did not calculate the project commercially payback. Not a mother brought the diapers to the masses - this was done by the grandfather of the three grandchildren. Viktor Mills, like Marion Donovan, is tired of washing and drying the diapers, so I decided to solve create Disposable diapers. We owe him to the name Pampers (from the English verb to pamper-“cherish”, “pamper”). Moreover, the problem of heating the skin of babies when wearing a diaper I got up Within the framework of the first experiment, which Mills conducted late in the spring of 1958 in Dallas (in these months the thermometer is rare It falls below +25 ° C). Neither the parents nor the children liked the novelty, but the inventor understood his mistake in time and, having slightly finalized the structure, transferred the testing to the cooler state of New York. Parents were impressed by the convenience and comfort of the new invention, and Procter & Gamble launched mass production of diapers.

In 2000, a group of German scientists from the University of Kil. Christiana Albrecht Spent Research to study how the temperature of the scrotum changes in a disposable diaper. In the experiment, 48 boys were accepted up to four and a half years old. Miniature thermometers were placed directly in the diaper and measured the temperature of the scrotum with an interval of 30 seconds. For 24 hours. It turned out that on average, the temperature under a disposable diaper was 0.6–1.1 ° C higher than on a control day, when the child did not wear a diaper, but was wrapped in a cotton diaper or wore cotton clothes. It was within the framework of this study that scientists suggested that such an increase in temperature is one of the reasons for the growth of male infertility. 

High ambient temperatures can really lead to a deterioration in the quality of sperm - sperm in it becomes less, and they are less mobile. Optimum testing temperature for spermatogenesis It is +34 ° C, overheating leads to the death of cells - the predecessors of sperm and makes the man temporarily barren. IN experiments On the mice, whose reproductive system is similar to the human, immersion of the posterior part of the male body into water with a temperature of +43 ° C for 15 minutes killed most of the context cells and made the rodent sterile for a while.

It is on this effect Founded The ancient Japanese method of male protection “Samurai egg” is a man who did not want to acquire offspring, took hot baths daily for a month (water temperature should be approximately +45 ° C). Metaanalysis of existing studies conducted in 2017, showedthat the method of thermal contraception works even with small (1–2 ° C) long -term fertile temperatures, and the perl index (assessment of the effectiveness of contraception is calculated as the number of unplanned conceptions for one year in 100 pairs using one method) was 0.8. For Comparisons, Perl index in interrupted sexual intercourse - from 4 to 20 points, for a men's condom - from 2 to 13, and in combined oral contraceptives - from 0.3 to 7 (the first number - with perfect compliance with the rules, the second - with typical). In this case, the method of thermal contraception is completely Turn - 100% of volunteers three months after the cessation of heating the scrotum demonstrated the same quality and amount of sperm as before the experiment. That is, even if the testicles are overheated in diapers so much as to make a person sterile, then this is an accurately reversible process and fertility returning to normal three months after the termination of excess temperatures.

However, a much more significant argument against the myth of critical and leading to infertility overheating is not that thermal sterilization is the reversible process. At the age when the child wears the diaper, his reproductive system has not yet matured - the seed tubules, according to which in men, sperm is released into the eryoniating duct, are only cellular cords that do not have a lumen, Lydig's cellsresponsible for the production of testosterone, more Not activeAnd without the necessary level of testosterone and other hormones that begin to be produced during puberty, the testicles do not produce sperm. Dampers cannot affect the process of spermatogenesis in the child simply because there is no process itself at this age.

Moreover, as shown study 2002, diapers increase the temperature of the scrotum no more than reusable diapers with nested layers of gauze, as well as warm pants or blankets. Therefore, diapers do not create any additional risk of infertility, if they do not wear them constantly in adulthood. Instead, on the ability of men to have children Provides The influence of a number of other factors. In addition diseases, risk of infertility Raises Smoking, drinking alcohol, excess weight and sedentary lifestyle.

Image on the cover: Wallpaper Flare

Not true

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