Eating nuts regularly could improve sperm health, a study suggests.
Men who ate about two handfuls of mixed almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts
daily for 14 weeks improved their sperm count and had more viable
“swimmers”, scientists found. The study comes amid a decline in sperm
counts across the Western world, linked to pollution, smoking and
diet. Researchers said there was growing evidence a healthy diet
could boost the odds of conceiving.
About one in seven couples have difficulty getting pregnant and about
40-50% of cases of infertility are attributable to men. The scientists
randomly divided 119 healthy men between the ages of 18 and 35 into
two groups:
• One added 60 grams (2oz) of nuts a day to their normal diet
• One made no changes to what they ate
Those in the nut group improved sperm:
• count by 14%
• vitality by 4%
• motility (movement) by 6%
• morphology (shape and size) by 1%
All of these are the parameters the World Health Organization lists as
measurements of sperm quality and are associated with male fertility.
Experts said the study backed up others that showed a diet rich in
omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and the B vitamin folate improved
fertility.Nuts contain many of these and other nutrients. “Evidence is
accumulating in the literature that healthy lifestyle changes such as
following a healthy dietary pattern might help conception,” said Dr
Albert Salas-Huetos, from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, in Spain,
who led the study.
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