A health study in the U.S. shows that men's fertility could be harmed by eating fruits and vegetables with higher pesticide residue levels.

According to researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, men who ate produce such as strawberries, spinach, peppers, apples and pears, had a lower sperm count and a lower percentage of normal sperm compared with those who ate produce with lower pesticide residue levels.

Assistant professor of nutrition and epidemiology Jorge Chavarro is the study's senior author.

"To our knowledge, this is the first report to link consumption of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables, a primary exposure route for most people, to an adverse reproductive health outcome in humans," he says in a release.

Data from 155 men, who had enrolled in the Environment and Reproductive Health (EARTH) study, was used to collate the results, including 338 semen samples provided during 2007 to 2012, accompanied by dietary information.

The researchers classified fruits and vegetables according to whether they contained high pesticide residues or low-to-moderate amounts, such as peas, beans, grapefruit and onions.

Factors like smoking and body mass index, which are known to affect sperm count, were also taken into consideration.

The results showed that men who ate larger amounts (more than 1.5 servings per day) of fruits and vegetables with higher levels of pesticide residue had a 49% lower sperm count and 32% lower percentage of normal sperm than men who ate lower amounts (less than 0.5 servings per day).

"These figures should not discourage the consumption of fruits and vegetable in general. In fact, we found that consuming more fruits and vegetables with low pesticide residues was beneficial.

"This suggests that implementing strategies specifically targeted at avoiding pesticide residues, such as consuming organically-grown produce or avoiding produce known to have large amounts of residues, may be the way to go."

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