Making slight changes to your diet can help in improving the quality of your sperm.
A study carried out by researchers at the University of Murcia in Spain, prompted by the gradual decline of sperm counts across Europe, hypothesised that a healthy antioxidant rich diet could potentially improve sperm concentration and motility by reducing the oxidation of molecules which harm sperm.
Professor Mendiola, one of the researchers said, “People who eat more fruits and vegetables are ingesting more antioxidants, and this is the important point”
The study showed that those men on the study with a good sperm count ate significantly more fruit and vegetables than those who had diets rich in meat and full fat dairy products.
So, a diet rich in antioxidants is thought to be the key in terms of sperm quality and motility. Foods like, blueberries, garlic, broccoli, plums, strawberries, spinach, citrus fruits and Vitamin C are rich in antioxidants and could mean faster swimming sperm.
Another study carried out at the University of California, looked at the diet and consumption of vitamin supplements of 89 healthy non smoking men and measured the effect it had on their sperm quality.
They concluded that a diet with sufficient amount of products rich in folic acid prevents formation of defective sperm, in particular aneuploidy (the presence of defective sperm with extra or shortage of chromosomes). Thus a diet rich in folic acid helps reduce the risk of chromosomal anomalies in newborns.
Brenda Eskenazi, head researcher,stated that “the study showed that among men who consumed the largest doses of folic acid (the dose ranged from 722 to 1150) aneuploidy was observed by 20-30% less than in the participants who received low levels of folate”
Eskenazi also reported that this study is the first one to demonstrate that a man’s diet could play a key role in the development of a baby.
Foods such as leafy green vegetables, beans, whole-bran bread, yeasts, and liver are great sources of folic acid.
