Infertility

I came across this piece today reporting some statistics from CDC. This shows a pretty dramatic drop in birth rates for this population, across the board.
(and here is something about using Stevia to reduce fertility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y_ubswux58)

CDC reports major drop in teen birth rates among minorities
By: WHITNEY MCKNIGHT, Family Practice News Digital Network APRIL 28, 2016

Pregnancy rates among Hispanic and black teens are at an all-time low, reflecting overall declines in teen birth rates, new data show.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on April 28 that the rate of Hispanic teens giving birth in the United States has dropped by more than half since 2006. During that same time period, there was a 44% drop in the birth rate for black teens.

Although these dramatic declines occurred against the backdrop of an overall decrease of about 40% in teen birth rates during the last decade, the CDC also reported that birth rates among Hispanics and black teens are still twice as high as they are for whites.
“The United States has made remarkable progress in reducing both teen pregnancy and racial and ethnic differences, but the reality is, too many American teens are still having babies,” Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director, said in a statement. “By better understanding the many factors that contribute to teen pregnancy, we can better design, implement, evaluate, and improve prevention interventions and further reduce disparities.”
Overall, the birth rate among girls aged 15-19 years dropped from 41.1 to 24.2 per 1,000 from 2006 to 2014. The largest decline occurred in Hispanics, going from 77.4 to 38.0 per 1,000. The next biggest rate decline was in black teens, which fell from 61.9 to 34.9 per 1,000. The rate for white teens declined by 35%, falling from 26.7 to 17.3 per 1,000 (MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016 Apr;65:409-14).
The CDC report indicated state- and community-level patterns, including that rates were notably higher among all races and ethnicities where unemployment is also high, but income and education levels are low. In some states with low overall birth rates, certain counties experienced higher rates. The highest rates nationwide tended to be in counties located in southern and southwestern states.
“These data underscore that the solution to our nation’s teen pregnancy problem is not going to be a one-size-fits-all – teen birth rates vary greatly across state lines and even within states,” Lisa Romero, Dr.P.H., a health scientist in the CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health, and the report’s lead author, said in a statement. “We can ensure the success of teen pregnancy prevention efforts by capitalizing on the expertise of our state and local public health colleagues. Together, we can work to implement proven prevention programs that take into account unique, local needs.”
The study is based on statistics for births to girls aged 15-19 years occurring between 2006 and 2014, taken from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS). County-level NVSS data from 2013 and 2014 was also used, as were data from the American Community Survey between 2010 and 2014.

Maybe I'm missing something here, Yupo, but I don't see this as being necessarily related to infertility. There are many social factors involved. There is no mention of infertility being one of the reasons for the drop in the statistics, and much the lest diet specifically. It could be due to any number of factors (assuming that these statistics aren't pure propaganda). Sure, infertility and diet could also be a reason, but from that short text, there is no way to tell IMO. What was it that you wanted to bring our attention to when you posted this?

Chu said:

Maybe I'm missing something here, Yupo, but I don't see this as being necessarily related to infertility. There are many social factors involved. There is no mention of infertility being one of the reasons for the drop in the statistics, and much the lest diet specifically. It could be due to any number of factors (assuming that these statistics aren't pure propaganda). Sure, infertility and diet could also be a reason, but from that short text, there is no way to tell IMO. What was it that you wanted to bring our attention to when you posted this?

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I agree Yupo, reading it I also didn't see it being related to infertility. It may not have been infertility that played a role, perhaps the intervention programs helped these teens out. Or perhaps the socioeconomic status of these minority groups has slightly improved. Another possibility is that these numbers have been 'presented' in such a way as to show improvement, while in reality things are getting worse, it wouldn't be the first time! But if this is based on good data, it's good news. Here it says:

Preliminary outcome data indicate that the community-wide initiatives were successful - each community increased the number of teens who received evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention interventions and reproductive health services, as well as the percentage of teens who received moderately or highly effective contraceptive methods, including long-acting reversible contraception. Many of those strategies are now being implemented across the U.S. through 84 new five-year teen pregnancy prevention grants supported by OAH.

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A 44% decline is a lot more than I would have expected from initiatives in just a few years. I agree it is good news. But it gave me a start, reading it. I posted it so see if anyone else reading here got the same reaction.

I remember reading that stevia had been used safely for many years in Japan. Since the early 1970s, anyway. I have also heard about their declining birth rates. Could there be a connection?

From Wikipedia on the subject of stevia:

In the early 1970s, sweeteners such as cyclamate and saccharin were gradually decreased or removed from a variant formulation of Coca-Cola. Consequently, use of stevia as an alternative began in Japan, with the aqueous extract of the leaves yielding purified steviosides developed as sweeteners. The first commercial stevia sweetener in Japan was produced by the Japanese firm Morita Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. in 1971.[14] The Japanese have been using stevia in food products and soft drinks, (including Coca Cola), and for table use. Japan currently consumes more stevia than any other country, with stevia accounting for 40% of the sweetener market.[15]

Yupo said:

I remember reading that stevia had been used safely for many years in Japan. Since the early 1970s, anyway. I have also heard about their declining birth rates. Could there be a connection?
[...]

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As per the comments above, it appears to be a multi-faceted issue with much of the influence coming from socio-economic factors and so to single out Stevia i think would incorrect. In the UK, having a child early in life is often blamed on poor education, lack of opportunities and role models, and there does appear to be something to this.

With regards to the Japanese birth rate, I've seen quite a few street interviews where people themselves state they don't want a partner and it's often related to the below:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/07/economist-explains-16 said:

The chief reason for the dearth of births is the decline of marriage. Fewer people are opting to wed, and they are doing so later in life. At least a third of young women aim to become full-time housewives, yet they struggle to find men who can support a traditional family. In better economic times potential suitors had permanent jobs as part of the “lifetime employment” system. Now many hold down temporary or part-time work. Other women shun marriage and children because Japan’s old-fashioned corporate culture, together with a dire shortage of childcare, would force them to give up their careers. Finally, young people are bound by strict social codes. Only around 2% of babies are born outside marriage (compared with 30-50% in most of the rich world), which means that as weddings plummet, so do births. Even for those who do start families, the rising cost of child-rearing often imposes a de facto one-child policy.

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And this is probably a reaction to the 'salary-man' culture where men are working extremely long hours, and as the Japanese economy has stagnated, competition makes this an even tougher environment to operate in. So many choose to opt-out instead.

In the UK, childcare is so expensive that the average salary from one parent can solely go to paying for childcare; I was discussing this just the other day with a few mothers of ~30 years old. And since many had to move for job opportunities, the idea of having grandparents help with childcare is often not an option.

I wouldn't underestimate the power of media here either:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/05/13/why-are-birthrates-falling-around-the-world-in-a-word-television/ said:

The same goes for India. Back in 1968, biologist Paul Ehrlich famously warned about a coming population explosion in India that would lead to mass famine and catastrophe. Yet today, India's fertility rate (2.5) is only slightly higher than the United States' (2.1). In India's southern states, the birthrate is actually below replacement level, meaning that the next generation will be smaller than the current one.

So what happened? Lewis examines a number of hypotheses, from rising incomes to growing female literacy. Those are all moderately correlated with the decline in birthrates and could help explain the shift. But, curiously enough, nothing seems to match up with the trends as neatly as the growth in TV ownership and media exposure:

This isn't as bizarre as it seems. A 2009 paper (pdf) by Robert Jensen and Emily Oster found that the introduction of cable television "is associated with significant decreases in the reported acceptability of domestic violence towards women and son preference, as well as increases in women’s autonomy and decreases in fertility." It's far from certain that television alone is driving these changes, but the evidence is suggestive.

A separate 2008 study (pdf) by Eliana La Ferrara found that the popularity of soap operas seems to have had a similar effect in Brazil, where birthrates have dropped from from 6.25 to 1.81 in the past 50 years. The idea here is that television helps alter certain cultural norms that, in turn, lead to women choosing to have fewer kids. (Again, though, it's possible that soap-opera exposure is simply an outgrowth of some other factor, like rising incomes.)

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To paraphrase: 'the woman who has it all', a concept pushed by many popular television shows and which is a common idea in the west, where women attempt to juggle motherhood alongside a successful and advancing career, and i would assume there is at least something to this. It also has a wealth of negative effects on both the family and the children too, because as noted in the Japanese birth decline, the expectations are set by culture and yet not facilitated by economics or society.

Just some thoughts.

To add to what Itellsya posted, there seems to be the wave of virtual relationships taking over Japan which could also explain the decline in birthrate. Apparently men don't actually have to interact with real women and can play video games instead like nintendo "love plus". I watched a video where one Japanese man even married his video game girlfriend :O

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24614830

[quote author=BBC article]Unless something happens to boost Japan's birth rate, its population will shrink by a third between now and 2060. One reason for the lack of babies is the emergence of a new breed of Japanese men, the otaku, who love manga, anime and computers - and sometimes show little interest in sex.
Tokyo is the world's largest metropolis and home to more than 35 million people, so on the face of it, it is hard to believe there is any kind of population problem at all.
But Akihabara, an area of the city dedicated to the manga and anime subculture provides one clue to the country's problems.
Akihabara is heaven for otaku.
They are a generation of geeks who have grown up through 20 years of economic stagnation and have chosen to tune out and immerse themselves in their own fantasy worlds.

...They have taken on a mole-like existence and, worryingly, withdrawn from relationships with the opposite sex.[/quote]

Hello everyone, I didn't want to start a new topic. Today, on the occasion of research to control my former operation from childhood time, it turned out that I am "sterile". But what the point is, most of my sperm are "dead" in terms of motility and there is very few of sperm. I am waiting for the results of blood tests and ultrasound. How do you think, have you encountered something like this and is there any chance for at least a partial recovery? What could it be related to? Could this show other problems in my body? Sorry for my English, later I will write more info Thank you for answers