How Does Alcohol Consumption Affect Fertility?

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How does alcohol consumption affect fertility? The short and simple answer is that drinking alcohol can adversely affect fertility and can also cause damage to the baby.

Alcohol Consumption and the Fertility Research Literature

image: male college student in distress about his alcohol abuse Couples wanting to have children often ask the following: "how does alcohol consumption affect fertility"? Obviously, the best place to find the answer to this question is in fertility research literature.

Unfortunately, many of the studies seeking to understand the relationship between alcohol and fertility conflict.

While drinking alcohol certainly does affect fertility, experts in this area of research have neither been able to calculate how much alcohol must be ingested to affect fertility nor how much alcohol consumption is "safe."

Fertility researchers have typically discussed alcohol and fertility in terms of alcohol consumption.

That is, many research studies have focused on whether there is significant difference between low consumption, moderate consumption, and heavy or excessive consumption.

Keep in mind that when anyone discusses alcohol consumption and offers guidelines on drinking, a number of factors are at work.

Metabolism, Gender, Age and Alcohol Guidelines

Due to the fact that not everyone weights the same, has the same metabolism, is the same gender, is the same age, or reacts the same way to alcohol, any "guidelines" must be taken as that--guidelines and not a perfect system of measurement or calculation.

With this being said, the following represents the differences in low, moderate, and heavy or excessive alcohol consumption.

Low Alcohol Consumption: less than one drink per day (for instance, having 1 to 5 drinks per week at different times)
Moderate Alcohol Consumption: 1 or 2 drinks per day
Heavy or Excessive Alcohol Consumption: more than 2 drinks per day

How does alcohol consumption affect fertility? The short and simple answer is that drinking alcohol can adversely affect fertility and can also cause damage to the baby.

While researchers have long been aware of the adverse effects of chronic alcoholism on fertility and on the health of the baby, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, many researchers are now finding that moderate alcohol consumption can also lead to similar issues.

It should be no surprise that findings such as these have made their way into the doctors' offices. Indeed, it has been found that many, if not most, doctors recommend that their patients fully disclose their drinking habits before they try to have a child so that the doctor can provide sound guidance and information that will help avoid fertility and conception problems.

Like many other diseases, alcoholism is chronic, meaning that it lasts a person's lifetime; it usually follows a predictable course; and it has symptoms. The risk for developing alcoholism is influenced both by a person's genes and by his or her lifestyle.

Some Negative Effects of Drinking Alcohol and Fertility

The following represents some of the negative consequences of drinking alcohol and the fertility and health issues of the mother and/or the baby:

infertility
increased risk for spontaneous abortion
impaired fetal growth and development
hypothalmic-pituitary-ovarian dysfunction resulting in the lack of ovulation, the abnormal development of the endometrial lining, and the absence of menses
increased risk for a miscarriage, pre-term birth, or stillbirth
numerous ovulatory dysfunctions
increased risk of fetal alcohol syndrome and possible congenital heart defects and brain anomalies
possible mental retardation in the baby
increased menstrual problems and gynecologic surgery
altered estrogen and progesterone levels

As a person engages in a regular habit of drinking, chemical changes in the brain take place. Alcohol consumption depletes gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the chemical responsible for inhibiting impulsiveness, and it increases the production of glutamate (which excites the nervous system) and norepenephrine (a stress-producing hormone).

Negative Effects of Drinking Alcohol and the Fertility of the Father

The following represents some of the negative consequences of drinking alcohol and the fertility of the father:

abnormal liver function and a rise in estrogen levels that, in turn, affect sperm development and hormone levels
killing off the sperm-generating cells in the testicles

Even when people with alcoholism experience withdrawal symptoms, they nearly always deny the problem, leaving it up to coworkers, friends, or relatives to recognize the symptoms and to take the first steps toward encouraging treatment. Denial, in fact, may be an important warning signal for alcoholism.

Alcohol and Fertility - A Practical Perspective

Let's think about the above information in practical terms. Virtually all researchers agree that excessive drinking significantly and negatively interferes with fertility for the woman AND for the men.

Furthermore, many researchers feel strongly about the negative affects of moderate drinking and fertility. So the only "real" option revolves around the following question: will drinking low amounts of alcohol significantly affect our ability in having children or should we simply abstain from drinking alcohol?

Alcohol withdrawal symptoms rarely occur in people who only drink once in a while. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms usually occur in people who have been drinking heavily for weeks or months and then suddenly stop drinking.

What is considered "safe" or "optimal" changes over time as researchers discover more information. For instance, for many years "optimal" blood pressure was "120 over 80."

More specifically, 120 over 80 means that the systolic pressure, a measure of the heart when it is beating, is 120 and the diastolic pressure, a measure of the heart at rest, is 80. In the past few years, however, some medical practitioners and researchers have advocated that "optimal" blood pressure is not 120 over 80 but "115 over 75."

The more alcohol you drink, the more likely you are to have a hangover the next day. But there's no magic formula. A single alcoholic drink is enough to trigger a hangover for some people, while others may drink heavily and escape a hangover entirely.

So what does this have to do with drinking alcohol and fertility? Simply this: If you are asking the question "how does alcohol consumption affect fertility," chances are good that you or your partner (or both) drink alcohol and want to have a child.

Let's say that the vast majority of fertility researchers agree that drinking very little alcohol will not affect fertility much, if at all. Fast forward 20 or 30 years.

How likely is it that fertility researchers will discover that even the smallest amounts of alcohol negatively affect fertility AND that drinking 24 to 96 hours before conception, for example, will possibly affect the health of the baby in a deleterious manner?

Just as there is no one test for screening or diagnosing alcoholism, there is not one single therapy or medication that definitively treats alcoholism in all patients. It is not an easy condition to resolve, and many patients will relapse into drinking several times before gaining lasting sobriety.

How Does Alcohol Consumption Affect Fertility: Conclusion

Similar to the changing views about "optimal" blood pressure measures, the negative affects of alcohol on fertility may be interpreted more stringently in the future due to advancements in research. While we all like to have our cake and eat it too, planning to have children is one area that bypasses such wishes.

Sure it would be nice to enjoy a few drinks while we entertain or go out for the evening. But if drinking alcohol is going to affect your ability to have children, not to mention the negative health consequences that alcohol presents to the woman who will be having the child, why not simply abstain from drinking alcohol while you are trying to have a child, while the woman is carrying the child, and while the woman is breast feeding the child.

Staying away from drinking alcohol during these times totally eliminates the countless number of negative "what if" scenarios that can be imagined.

Not only this, but total abstention from alcohol will rule out any negative alcohol-related consequences associated with the health of your baby and should give you the peace of mind knowing that you are doing the best you can to give your future child the greatest hope for a life without preventable medical problems.

And finally, you won't have to ask the question, "how does alcohol consumption affect fertility"?

In the U.S., more alcoholism is being found in the elderly now that more baby boomers are retiring.

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U.S. research shows that the risk for developing alcoholism does indeed run in families. The genes a person inherits partially explain this pattern, but lifestyle is also a factor. Currently, researchers are working to discover the actual genes that put people at risk for alcoholism. Your friends, the amount of stress in your life, and how readily available alcohol is also are factors that may increase your risk for alcoholism.

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