Sperm

Got your attention I suppose. This week I read a news article and the associated research abstract on a study that suggests that what a man eats can effect the health of his sperm.

This is a perfect example of when one needs to look beyond the headlines.

For instance, this only involved about 60 men and it was an observational (case control) study. In other words, the men already had a problem (poor semen quality) and researchers matched them to similar men that had normal sperm and their diets were compared.

The researches also controlled for a few things that have already been associated with this problem, which includes low sperm count and misshapen sperm. More on that in a moment.

This study was a follow up to one by the same researchers that had been done in the same manner. In the first they looked at what foods the men ate and in the second they narrowed it down to the specific nutrients.

First, men in this observational study (i.e not a random controlled clinical study) who ate more yogurt, meat and potatoes had worse quality sperm. Now the newspaper article only said dairy and meat, so there is more detail in the abstract and its a noteworthy difference. The healthier men drank skim milk and consumed shellfish, lettuce and tomatoes more often then their matches.

In the new study the healthy sperm belonged to men who had more antioxidant rich food in their diets. The abstract states this, "control subjects had a significantly higher intake of carbohydrates, fiber, folate, vitamin C, and lycopene and lower intakes of proteins and total fat." After which the authors conclude that poor sperm quality is associated with insufficient amounts of antioxidants.

This is not a conclusive finding and the scientists are not claiming that. They do think a more clinical experiment is warranted. The men in this study were from a private fertility clinic in Spain so in no way can these results be generalized to other men.

Two things in closing:

1) do NOT go out and buy pills to boost your antioxidant intake. Studies like this are comparing food intake not supplements and other studies have found that the supplements may not work at all or as in the case of beta carotene supplements and smokers, can have deleterious effects.

2) what they controlled for, and what is then a risk factor for sperm problems is: CIGARETTE SMOKING, age, BMI, and exposure to toxic chemicals at work.

okay sorry

3) there is NO evidence that eating a diet rich in antioxidant fruits and vegetables will cause harm and in fact, it is already proven to improve heart health :) However, if men need to think about their sperm instead of their hearts to eat well, then by all means read the news clipping!

the study citation is thus:

A low intake of antioxidant nutrients is associated with poor semen quality in patients attending fertility clinics Corrected Proof, 14 January 2009 Jaime Mendiola, Alberto M. Torres-Cantero, Jesús Vioque, José M. Moreno-Grau, Jorge Ten, Manuela Roca, Stella Moreno-Grau, Rafael Bernabeu Fertility and Sterility