Human habits are considered an important cause of various social and health problems.
The importance of habits has been demonstrated in a variety of behaviours in different areas, such as work, health, travel and also ecology, which suggests that habits have a pervasive impact on human life. One of the most common human habits in the world is coffee drinking. Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world and can be prepared in many different ways. It has a pleasant taste and stimulates and energises the brain, mainly because of its caffeine content.
Nordic countries have the highest coffee consumption. Consumption in Finland is the highest in the world, almost double that of Brazil, Italy, France, Greece and Canada, which ranks 10th in consumption, and about three times that of the United States, which ranks 25th.
All the concern about caffeine and fertility began almost two decades ago, when a study reported that women who drank about one cup of coffee a day had 50% lower chances of conceiving. However, since then no study has confirmed these findings.
Studies assessing the impact of caffeine on fertility have evaluated a variety of factors, including time to conception, infertility, and the quality of eggs and sperm.
Some studies reported that caffeine consumption increased the risk of infertility due to an increased occurrence of tubal disease or endometriosis. It has also been reported that caffeine consumption may affect egg quality. On the other hand, there are other studies concluding that coffee consumption has a beneficial effect on women's fertility, and some others have shown no association between caffeine consumption and female fertility.
Semen quality assessments failed to observe adverse effects associated with caffeine intake, as concluded in a large study conducted in Denmark. However, a systematic review of the literature involving about 20,000 men concluded that, while the literature shows that caffeine intake, possibly through damage to sperm DNA, may negatively affect male reproductive function, data from epidemiological studies on sperm parameters and fertility are inconsistent and unclear.
The main feature of these studies is the heterogeneity of the study populations, in terms of age, physical characteristics, cause of infertility, time to conception, body mass index, other daily habits etc., with the result that the conclusions are not reliable. Also, in the vast majority of studies, female infertility was defined as the inability to conceive per menstrual cycle for 12 months, without information on the desire for pregnancy or the number of cycles women were trying to conceive. Finally, there is no information on the consumption of other drinks and foods containing caffeine (for example, soft drinks and chocolate).
In conclusion, you do not need to give up your morning cup of coffee, and you should not feel guilty about it while trying to conceive. So far, no association has been demonstrated between caffeine and reduced fertility in men and women