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There is no need to cut down the number of cigarettes or drinks that you intake every day, if you are a man scared of losing fertility. A new study claims that men with unhealthy lifestyles are likely as fertile as men who live more sensibly.

A team of scientists from Manchester and Sheffield universities say that new evidence shows there could be no threat to a man's fertility or sperm count and he could start a family in spite of smoking, consuming alcohol,  taking drugs,  or being overweight.

"Our results suggest that many lifestyle choices probably have little influence on how many swimming sperm they have. For example, whether the man was a current smoker or not was of little importance. Similarly, there was little evidence of any risk associated with alcohol consumption. This potentially overturns much of the current advice given to men about how they might improve their fertility," study leader Dr Andrew Povey, of Manchester University, was quoted as saying by Mail Online.

According to NHS guidelines, GPs should warn men diagnosed with infertility of the effects of alcohol, tobacco and recreational drugs. They also have been often advised to avoid being overweight and wearing tight underwear. It is the quantity and count of swimming sperm that is tried to be improved in men trying to conceive.  

However, it was found that many factors which were previously thought to contribute to sperm problems could have little impact.

For the study, 2,249 men from 14 fertility clinics around the UK were asked to fill a questionnaire which took details of their lifestyle. The lifestyle details of 939 men with low numbers of swimming sperm were compared with details of 1,310 men with higher numbers.

The study results suggested that men with low quality sperm were more likely to have had testicular surgery, and twice as likely to be of black ethnicity. Also, it was more likely they did a lot of manual work, did not wear loose boxers, and did not have a child before.

However, their tobacco, alcohol and drugs intake hardly made any difference.

Also, when the BMI of the participants was considered, it seemed that being overweight also did not have a lot to do with the sperm quality.

 Although the test results produce hardly any relation between lifestyle and sperm quality, "it remains possible that they could correlate with other aspects of sperm that we have not measured," Co-author Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at Sheffield University said.