Dietary Supplements Can Influence Sperm Quality, Says Study

A recent study has shown the positive impact that certain dietary supplements can have on male fertility.

Analysis of the randomized clinical trials revealed that some dietary supplements could be beneficial for modulating sperm quality and male fertility.

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World Health Organisation (WHO) recognizes infertility as a global health issue affecting 15 per cent of the world’s population. It is commonly understood that lifestyle factors such as stress, drug use, smoking, alcohol intake and diet may have an influence on human infertility rate.

A study, published in the journal Advances in Nutrition, attempted to find whether modifications in one of these lifestyle factors, particularly the intake of nutrient and dietary supplements, can influence sperm quality.

Researchers at the Human Nutrition Unit of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and the Pere i Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV) carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials from the MEDLINE-PubMed database, involving 28 articles for qualitative analysis and 15 for quantitative meta-analysis on over 2900 participants.

It was observed that total sperm concentration was increased by selenium, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids. Sperm counts were increased by ω-3 fatty acids and motility by coenzyme Q10 and carnitines.

Thus, analysis of these randomized clinical trials revealed that some dietary supplements could be beneficial for modulating sperm quality and male fertility.

However, the study does not specify whether this impact is on conceiving a child naturally or through assisted techniques.