Lifestyle and Environmental Factors Affecting Male Fertility, Individual Predisposition, Prevention and Intervention

Current lifestyle brings about increasing prevalence of unhealthy habits that can negatively affect male fertility. Cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, stress, inadequate physical activity, unequilibrated diet leading to obesity, and use of mobile telephones and portable electronic devices can affect male reproductive system through multiple mechanisms. Moreover the modern man is often exposed to environmental factors independent of his will, such as air pollution, exposure to heat or toxicants in his workplace, or the presence of harmful chemicals in food, beverages, agricultural and industrial products, etc. The susceptibility to these factors depends on genetic and epigenetic predisposition, potentially present systemic disease and medication, and local affections of genitourinary system. The multifaceted nature of both the causative factors and the susceptibility background makes the resulting fertility disturbance highly individual and variable among different men exposed to the same conditions. This paper critically reviews current knowledge of different causative and susceptibility factors with a special attention to molecular mechanisms of their action. Finally, strategies for prevention of abnormalities due to lifestyle and environmental factors and available treatment modalities for already present abnormalities are exposed.