Is There An End to Male Fertility?
0The world’s oldest new dad, at the age of 96, says he’s done having kids. It begs the question however, if hee wanted to — could he have another kid?
A 2004 study containing a sample of couples using in vitro fertilization, found that every additional year of a man’s age correlated to an 11-percent decrease in the odds that he could impregnate a woman.
New research also shows that, like women, men’s chance of producing children who have abnormalities increase as they age. As a man ages, random mutations in his sperm pile up, and pass on more genetic mutations to his offspring.
All this research makes Ramajit Raghav’s kid, the 96-year-old from India, all the more surprising. He claims that it is because of his diet and frequent sex (three times a night) that he is able to produce children.
Recent research from Berkeley showed that diets high in vitamin C, antioxidants, zinc and vitamin E can prevent DNA damage in sperm.
Despite research that shows having kids past the age of 50 is unlikely, Raghav is an example that science can’t explain.
