Do Young Single Men Really Need to Fight the Male Biological Clock by Banking Their Sperm?

By Elizabeth Cohen, Senior Medical Correspondent for CNN

For all these reasons, Dr. Harry Fisch had advised his two sons to father children in their late 20s or early 30s.

But Fisch, a clinical professor of urology and reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, said he wouldn’t go so far as to tell his sons to bank their sperm if they arrived at their early 30s without any marriage prospects.

Fisch, author of the book “The Male Biological Clock: The Startling News About Aging, Sexuality, and Fertility in Men,” said he thinks that what Hudson and other men are doing “may be excessive.”

Though studies do suggest that there is an increased risk with advanced paternal age, he said, the risk of any man having a problem is “extremely small,”so the increased risk for older fathers is “a very low number.”

Plus, he said, there’s no data telling us at what age a man’s sperm might start becoming problematic, so it wouldn’t be clear when he should use his stored sperm instead of fathering a child naturally.

“Does it begin at 40? Does it begin at 50? Some other age? We just don’t know,” he said.

Others think banking sperm at a young age isn’t “excessive” at all.

Writing in the journal Nature, Alexey Kondrashov, a biologist at the University of Michigan, said that if advanced paternal age leads to substantial health problems for children, “then collecting the sperm of young adult men and cold-storing it for later use could be a wise individual decision.”

Kevin Smith, a bioethicist at Abertay University in Scotland, took it one step further, suggesting that storing sperm should “become the norm.” His suggestion was roundly criticized by his colleagues, according to the BBC.

Hudson doesn’t know whether he’ll ever use his stored sperm; he’ll figure that out with his future wife, when he meets her.

In the meantime, he said, it’s nice to know it’s there, waiting for him at a cryobank in New York.

He calls it “an insurance policy.”

“I felt like it was better to be safe,” he said. “This might not be for everybody, but for me, it makes sense.”

John Bonifield and Janissa Delzo contributed to this report.

RSMC can answer any questions you have about sperm banking or want to get started.

Article was originally published at: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/12/health/men-banking-sperm/