Nov 04, 2015 01:00 PM EST By J Dionne, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that adolescent exposure to environmental pollutants could lead to fertility problems later in life, Medical Daily reported.

Researchers at Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University found that exposure to organochlorines in the teenage years may lead to defective sperm.

"We need more research to find out how these organochlorine pollutants may be affecting the maturation of the testicles and their function," Melissa Perry, lead author of the study and chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at Milken Institute, said in a statement. "Exposure to these chemicals in adolescence may lead to reproductive problems years later."

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from 90 men, Environmental Health News reported. They looked at sperm and blood samples taken from the participants who lived in The Faroe Islands, an island community in the North Atlantic. The island's population consumes a seafood-rich diet, including pilot whale meat and blubber, which leads to higher-than-average exposures to organochlorine pollutants including polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs and the main metabolite of the insecticide DDT.

They found that men with higher levels of the DDT metabolite and PCBs, both as adults and at age 14, had significantly higher rates of sperm disomy, a condition in which sperm cells have an abnormal number of chromosomes.

Organochlorine pesticides such as DDT were used extensively through the 1960s and are now banned in the United States. However, they are still used in some tropical countries and even in places that don't use them anymore these chemicals still linger in the soil and water. People in the United States can be exposed to these pollutants by eating a diet with lots of meat, dairy and fatty fish.

"Most people can reduce their exposure to PCBs and DDT by cutting back on foods that are high in animal fats and choosing fish wisely," Perry said.

The findings are detailed in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

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