Consuming a healthy
diet along with nutrients could improve the quality and fecundability reports
the results of a systematic review published in March 2017 in Journal of Human Reproduction Update.
Recent available data estimate that around 50 million couple worldwide experience infertility and
were unable to conceive after 5 years of marriage. In US, CDC stats that about 11%
of U.S. couples have impaired fertility.
Male factor
infertility accounts for 25% to 30% of cases and the number is increasing
globally because of worldwide decline in semen quality.
Many
environmental and lifestyle factors have been blamed for the decline in sperm
count. One of the important possible determinant of sperm quality is diet and nutrients
with only few small random RCTs available in literature.
The
researchers conducted a detailed systematic review of available literature from
till November 2016 following the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
All cross sectional,
prospective and retrospective case -control studies in which men were
responsible for fertility problems with well-defined semen parameters were
included in the analysis.
Out of 1944
articles delineated, 35 were selected for quantitative analysis.
It was seen
that:
Diets that are
high in saturated and trans-fat and low
in omega-3 fatty acids, some antioxidants (vitamin E, vitamin C, β-carotene,
selenium, zinc, cryptoxanthin and lycopene), other vitamins (vitamin D and
folate) were all associated with several low semen parameters.
Consumption
of seafood, fish, low fat dairy, cereals, vegetables and fruits were positively
associated with several sperm quality parameters.
Processed
food, potatoes, soy, full fat dairy, coffee, alcohol, sweetened beverages and desserts
are all responsible for falling semen parameters.
Men who
consumed too much alcohol, caffeine, processed meat and red meat decreased the
chances of pregnancy in their partners.
The authors
concluded that making healthy diet a part of your lifestyle could improve the
couple chances of fertilization by improving the semen parameters. But, observational
nature of the study results only prove association and not causation.
Large
Randomized Prospective studies in future should be designed to confirm the
causation.
