Q My son works in a commercial kitchen. I’ve heard the chef Gordon Ramsay talking about “heat stress infertility” – but is this a real danger to my boy?
DR THOMAS STUTTAFORD
A Gordon Ramsay’s phrase “heat stress infertility” encapsulates two factors that might make it difficult for your son to impregnate a woman. Either the stress of being shouted at and harried from morning to night could be dampening his sexual desire, or the heat in the kitchen may be toasting his testes.
Any exhausting and stressful job – and there is no better example of this than a professional kitchen – will shrivel libido. Physically tiring or emotionally draining work leaves a man longing for peace and quiet, a pillow and sleep, rather than the embrace of a woman.
It was always believed that recruits when first joining the Army had bromide added to their tea to remove their libido. Not so. The true reason for their loss of interest in sex was that they were shouted at all day as they worked hard from 5am to midnight.
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Most men’s libido would also suffer from life in a hot kitchen. The effects of heat on the physiology of the testis will become more pronounced the longer the exposure to high temperatures. And the harmful effect on sperm production may take up to three months to disappear. Testes need to be kept at a temperature that favours spermatogenesis, the manufacture of sperm. This process is not at its best if the heat is persistently abnormally high. High temperatures will affect the results of a standard comprehensive semen analysis, the sperm count, and the more detailed sperm DNA fragmentation tests.
Although men with poor-quality semen and low sperm counts are more likely to have sperm that show DNA fragmentation (abnormalities that can also affect fertility) the relationship is not consistent. Men with normal sperm counts may have DNA abnormalities. Research shows that many things can affect the ability of sperm to fertilise eggs: too few sperm, too many abnormal sperm, too little semen; or laggardly sperm which, instead of swimming purposely towards the ovum like greyhounds after a hare, stroll like shoppers down Bond Street. Conversely, excessive sperm fragmentation and DNA abnormalities reduce the chance that the ovum will develop normally.
The factors that affect male fertility in one way or the other are poor diet, smoking, environmental pollutants, drugs – including so-called recreational drugs – and excessive alcohol. Other causes of reduced fertility are: chronic infection, varicose veins in the scrotum, tight trousers, so that the testes can’t hang loosely but are held firmly against the crotch, or working in a sweaty, busy kitchen.
If your son is infertile, the first step is for him to have a comprehensive sperm assessment. When the results are known you and your son will know whether some change in lifestyle is going to be necessary if you are to have grandchildren to play with in old age.
If your son only has to give up drinking half a bottle of whisky a day, forswear cigarettes, refuse recreational drugs, and buy boxer shorts rather than Y-fronts, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It may be rather more difficult if he has to change his career. If he can’t face life without having a celebrity chef swearing at him like a drill sergeant, and the rest of his lifestyle is sound, there may be little that you can do.
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Dr Thomas Stuttaford, The Times doctor, spent many years working in a genitourinary clinic
SUZI GODSON
A Although it’s true that standing in front of a hot stove has a tendency to poach the gonads, British chefs still manage to get their buns in the oven. Gordon Ramsay has four kids. Jamie Oliver has two. And Fergus Henderson has three.
For me, though, the problem of chefs having children is not the poached gonads but the fact that many chefs (though, of course, none of the above) are under huge pressure and can often come across as the sort of macho bully that any sensible woman would avoid like the plague. Having said that, research suggests that being a wanker is actually beneficial for men who are trying to impregnate their partners.
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An Australian study last year concluded that daily ejaculations improved sperm, even in men with abnormal sperm structure and whose partners had suffered repeated miscarriage or failed IVF attempts. Although the research flies in the face of previous advice that couples trying to conceive should have sex less frequently to allow sperm to build up, the scientists behind the study say regular ejaculation means newer healthier sperm are released rather than old ones that have been hanging around for days.
If your son works in a commercial kitchen, he does run an increased risk of heat stress infertility, but what percentage of the problem is caused by heat and what percentage is caused by stress and the toxic lifestyle of the average chef is anyone’s guess.
Professional chefs work in a pressure-cooker environment fuelled by adrenaline and inevitably, when the kitchen grinds to a close in the early hours of the morning, they rarely feel like going home for a cup of Horlicks: heavy drinking and smoking is relatively common in the industry. But, apart from that, holding a marriage together when you work 17 hours a day is harder than whipping up a Ferran Adrià recipe.
Ramsay’s stable marriage is probably one of his greatest achievements. Although he does indeed have a low sperm count and his low fertility was further complicated by the fact that his wife, Tana, suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome, the couple have been married since 1998 and have four children, three of whom were conceived through IVF. Having publicly declared his own deficiencies to draw attention to the problem of heat stress infertility, Ramsay allowed a fertility expert to conduct tests on his kitchen staff for his TV show The F-Word.
The bad news was that prolonged exposure to radiated heat from the ovens meant that all Ramsay’s staff had sperm counts that were considerably lower than the UK average. The good news is that Ramsay has alerted people to something that is clearly an enormous problem, particularly within the catering industry.
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He has also inspired the former fireman Paul O’Dwyer from County Durham to come up with a solution. O’Dwyer has developed a heat-proof shield which slips into the front pocket of a chef’s apron and deflects 90 per cent of the radiated heat away from the groin. Made from Kevlar, the CaterShield also incorporates a reusable ice pack which provides protection against temperatures of up to 343C (649F). The products are being used by Jamie Oliver’s 15 Foundation and are available from www.Cool-Berries.com; 01740 650824 for about £50.
Suzi Godson is author of The Sex Book (Cassell, £16.99) and The Body Bible (Penguin, £16.99)
E-mail your sexual dilemmas to body&soul@thetimes.co.uk or write to Body&Soul, The Times, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1TT