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Men exposed to certain chemicals in sunscreens may have their fertility impaired, a new study claims.

According to Daily Mail, men exposed to chemicals called benzophenone-type UV filters commonly found in sunscreen creams and lotions, risked a 30 percent fertility reduction. However the Longitudinal Investigation of Fertility and the Environment study from the National Institute of Health did not explain how the chemicals caused infertility.

The study involved 501 couples who were recruited before giving birth and participated for one year or until the woman became pregnant. Researchers measured the amount of time it took for women in the study to become pregnant and measured the concentration of five sunscreen UV filters known to disturb hormonal functioning in the body.

"The skin is the body's largest organ, and how we care for our skin matters in more ways than one. Sunscreen is important for sun protection, and we definitely encourage people to continue using sunscreen to avoid skin cancer. But men who are concerned about fertility may be interested in other ways to reduce their exposure to benzophenone UV filters-whether by cutting back on other products that contain the UV filters or by washing after returning indoors," said Dr. Germaine Louis of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, in a news release.

Researchers however did not find any drop in fertility levels of women.

"In our study, male fecundity seems to be more susceptible to these chemicals than female fecundity. The women participants actually had greater exposure to the UV filters overall, but their exposure wasn't associated with any significant pregnancy delays," Dr Louis said.

"Our next step is to figure out how these particular chemicals may be affecting couple fecundity or time to pregnancy-whether it's by diminishing sperm quality or inhibiting reproduction some other way."

The study has been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.