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Notice to male marijuana lovers: this drug could reduce the size of your testicles and even affect your fertility!
Consuming cannabis is not without risk. If we already know that this drug can alter the heart rhythm or cause episodes of bronchitis, researchers have recently discovered that this drug can also shrink the size of the testicles and have an impact on the quality of sperm.
Halved testicles
To reach this conclusion, the scientists injected monkeys with increasing doses of cannabis for 7 months and measured the changes in their genitals.
Result ? They found that the primates’ testicles had shrunk significantly (by half in size) and their sperm quality had deteriorated.
A deterioration that could be explained, according to the research team, by a “drop in testosterone levels“.
A reversible effect in 4 months minimum
Another notable finding of the study: four months after stopping exposure to THC, the main active molecule of cannabis, these effects had partly dissipated.
“We can now assure patients that by abstaining from THC for at least four months, the effects of THC on male fertility can be partially reversed. This allows for more concrete and informed recommendations for patients who are actively trying to conceive.“, reveals Dr. Jamie Lo, of the National Center for Primate Research in Oregon.
Understanding the impact of this drug on fertility is “vital” according to the specialist because more and more states are seeking to legalize it, especially in America.