In a study published on February 14 in the World Journal of Men’s Health (Source 1), American and Italian researchers, concerned with evaluating male reproductive health, have been interested in the average size of the penis through the ages.
After compiling data from 75 studies, conducted between 1942 and 2021 and annotating the penis length of 55,761 men, the team found that the average length of the erect penis a increased by 24% in 29 yearsa trend seen around the world. It would thus have increased from 12.2 to 15.2 cm on average.
If the size of the erect penis is generally seen – rightly or wrongly – as a criterion of virility, this increase would not be good news. In an interview with the Scope blog (Source 2) from Stanford University School of Medicine (California, USA), Dr. Michael Eisenberg, professor of urology and co-author of the study, explains why.
Recalling that « the sperm count and the testosterone levels decrease since a long time », while congenital genetic anomalies are on the rise (hypospadias, cryptorchidism, etc.), the researcher believes that the increase in penis size might be another indicator of the harmful effects of environmental pollution on reproductive health.
“Any global change in development is worrying, because our reproductive system is one of the most important elements of human biology. If we are witnessing such a rapid change, it means something powerful is happening in our body”said Dr. Eisenberg, pointing out that on an evolutionary scale, 29 years is a relatively short period of time.
Among the factors likely to explain this increase, the urologist cites exposure to chemicals, and in particular to endocrine disruptors which interact with our hormonal systems and can – among other things – compromise fertility. « Exposure to chemicals has also been put forward as a cause for earlier onset of puberty for both boys and girls, which can affect genital development “, underlined the specialist. The latter calls on the scientific community to take more control of the subject of reproductive health, in particular by researching whether such observations of changes in size are observed on the female genitalia.
