Ageing fathers (35+) risk the health of their offspring
Captain Sensible writes: Many thanks to the reader that highlighted this article which reveals the health risks associated with ageing fathers (eg. age 35).
We are well accustomed to the health risks of an ageing mother (another reality of God's design that is ignored by the "wait on the Lord" brigade).
But here, some startling research reveals the extent of the health risks to the child of a man who is no longer youthful.
It shouldn't be a surprise. The Bible tells us that the best time to marry is in our youth. We ignore that at our peril.
This should be a wake-up call to all men who suppose that they will get married and have children "one day", and are meanwhile running scared of commitment, preferring an unchallenging, half-life of continued "adultlescence", luxuriating in the devil's lie that they can take as much time as they like and still have a family of their own.
Bad news, boys. The male biological clock is ticking too...
Here are some extracts:
"Not only does male fertility decrease decade by decade, especially after age 35, but aging sperm can be a significant and sometimes the only cause of severe health and developmental problems in offspring, including autism, schizophrenia, and cancer. The older the father, the higher the risk. But what's truly noteworthy is not that infertility increases with age —to some degree, we've known that all along —but rather that older men who can still conceive may have such damaged sperm that they put their offspring at risk for many types of disorders and disabilities."
"Men thought they were getting off scot free, and they weren't. The birth defects caused by male aging are significant conditions that can cause a burden to families and society...We now know that men and women alike could be increasing the risk of infertility or birth defects by waiting too long to have children."
"In other words, by looking for perfection in your life before you conceive, there's a very real chance you'll have less perfect kids."
"...men 40 and older are nearly six times more likely to have offspring with autism than men under age 30. Other research shows that the risk of breast and prostate cancer in offspring increases with paternal age."
"Scientists have long known that advanced paternal age...played some role in fertility problems and birth defects. Yet because the reports mainly involved children who died before birth or who had extremely rare disorders, no one really rang the alarm. Now, with new studies linking the father's age to relatively frequent, serious conditions like autism, schizophrenia, and Down syndrome, the landscape is shifting."
"Women have unfairly borne the brunt of the blame for birth defects."
"The more ejaculations a man produces, the greater the chance for chinks to arise, leading to increased point mutation and thus increased infertility and birth defects."
We are well accustomed to the health risks of an ageing mother (another reality of God's design that is ignored by the "wait on the Lord" brigade).
But here, some startling research reveals the extent of the health risks to the child of a man who is no longer youthful.
It shouldn't be a surprise. The Bible tells us that the best time to marry is in our youth. We ignore that at our peril.
This should be a wake-up call to all men who suppose that they will get married and have children "one day", and are meanwhile running scared of commitment, preferring an unchallenging, half-life of continued "adultlescence", luxuriating in the devil's lie that they can take as much time as they like and still have a family of their own.
Bad news, boys. The male biological clock is ticking too...
Here are some extracts:
"Not only does male fertility decrease decade by decade, especially after age 35, but aging sperm can be a significant and sometimes the only cause of severe health and developmental problems in offspring, including autism, schizophrenia, and cancer. The older the father, the higher the risk. But what's truly noteworthy is not that infertility increases with age —to some degree, we've known that all along —but rather that older men who can still conceive may have such damaged sperm that they put their offspring at risk for many types of disorders and disabilities."
"Men thought they were getting off scot free, and they weren't. The birth defects caused by male aging are significant conditions that can cause a burden to families and society...We now know that men and women alike could be increasing the risk of infertility or birth defects by waiting too long to have children."
"In other words, by looking for perfection in your life before you conceive, there's a very real chance you'll have less perfect kids."
"...men 40 and older are nearly six times more likely to have offspring with autism than men under age 30. Other research shows that the risk of breast and prostate cancer in offspring increases with paternal age."
"Scientists have long known that advanced paternal age...played some role in fertility problems and birth defects. Yet because the reports mainly involved children who died before birth or who had extremely rare disorders, no one really rang the alarm. Now, with new studies linking the father's age to relatively frequent, serious conditions like autism, schizophrenia, and Down syndrome, the landscape is shifting."
"Women have unfairly borne the brunt of the blame for birth defects."
"The more ejaculations a man produces, the greater the chance for chinks to arise, leading to increased point mutation and thus increased infertility and birth defects."
posted by Captain Sensible at 3:25 PM
2 Comments:
The article is really informative; people truly need to be made aware of this matter. With regard to my future husband, perhaps I need to start praying for one younger than I!
Unfortunately, I think the ending somewhat negated the point the writer was trying to make. It's too bad that no one in the medical community seems willing to flat out tell people, barring extenuating circumstances (i.e., unwanted, protracted singleness, not climbing the corporate ladder, sowing one's wild oats, or taking forever to finish a PhD), to have children in their 20s instead of waiting until they're in their 30s or 40s. For obvious reasons I don't think we will ever hear such a thing from infertility specialists, but I wish pediatricians and other doctors that have to deal directly with the ramifications of mens' waiting too long to have children would be more responsible and speak the truth.
It's funny how many articles make a very serious and necessary point... and then feel they have to end it on a kind of inoffensive, people-pleasing, feelgood factor.
It reminds me of an excellent article a few months back by Mark Greene (London Institute of Contemporary Christianity) in Christianity magazine.
Spread over four pages, it was all about the creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply, and how almost all of us need a spouse to partner us in the mission God has set before us, from the beginning of time.
It was all good stuff... then in about the penultimate passage, Greene threw in a sentence along the lines of: Of course, singles can do this just as well.
It was laughable in its scramble to quickly throw in a politically-correct comment to make singles not "feel bad"! It completely undermined everything that had gone before it, but that didn't seem to matter. The important thing was to add in a singles "affirmation" - at whatever cost, even if it does make a mockery of everything that has gone before!
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