Handsome men may have poor semen quality: Study

LONDON: A handsome face may actually indicate poor semen quality, scientists say.

Researchers studied 50 Caucasian male students from the University of Valencia, Spain, and found that facial masculinity is negatively associated with semen quality.

Male facial attractiveness has been considered an important predictor of female mating preferences because of genetic benefits for offspring - facial traits may signal several quality factors (indirect benefits), such as health and intelligence.

The phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis (PLFH) predicts that male secondary sexual traits are reliable indicators of male fertilisation efficiency but studies testing for the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis have yielded contradictory results.

The aim of the new study was to test PLFH in humans and to investigate whether potential ability to select fertile partners is independent of sex or cultural background.

Researchers found that on the contrary to the hypothesis, facial masculinity was negatively associated with semen quality.

"As increased levels of testosterone have been demonstrated to impair sperm production, this finding may indicate a trade-off between investments in secondary sexual signalling (ie facial masculinity) and fertility," researchers said.

The study was published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.