THURSDAY, March 14, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Two dietary supplements could give men struggling with impaired fertility an edge by improving their sperm output.
Dutch researchers report that men who received folic acid and zinc sulfate supplements experienced a significant boost in their total normal sperm count. But as yet, the study doesn't make it clear that the effects improve fertility to the point of increasing a couple's chance of conceiving.
Still, says one expert in reproductive medicine, the findings point to the importance of maintaining a healthy diet among men and women with reduced fertility. The findings appear in the March issue of Fertility and Sterility.
Roughly 15 percent of couples struggle with infertility. In about 30 percent to 40 percent of cases, the man's reproductive system is abnormal, while in about 20 percent of cases both partners contribute to the problem. Environmental and genetic factors have both been implicated in male factor infertility, and doctors determine the quality of sperm using hormonal tests, sperm examination, and genetic evaluation.
Senior investigator Dr. Régine P.M. Steegers-Theunissen, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University Medical Centre Nijmegen in The Netherlands, has been involved in research leading to recommending folic acid for women planning to conceive. Folic acid can reduce the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida.
Steegers-Theunissen says she wondered whether folic acid was important for men as well as women in terms of healthy reproductive outcomes. According to her, both zinc sulfate and folic acid are involved in the synthesis of genetic information. But while it's known that zinc deficiency leads to decreased sperm production and reduced fertility, the exact mechanism is not clear.
She and her team decided to test the effect of folic acid and zinc sulfate on sperm production.
In the latest study, 103 subfertile men and 108 fertile men were randomly assigned to one of four 26-week regimens of treatment. One group received a placebo; another received only folic acid; a third received only zinc sulfate, and the final group received folic acid and zinc sulfate.
The men had comparable levels of folic acid and zinc sulfate prior to the start of the experiment.
Steegers-Theunissen found that subfertile men who received both the supplements showed a 74 percent increase in their total normal sperm count, along with a 4 percent jump in the number of abnormal sperm. A similar effect was seen in the control group of men with healthy fertility.
"There is a significant effect from [folic acid]," says Steegers-Theunissen. "There are specific illnesses that have an effect on folic acid status, and that might be a reason why folic acid could be affected."
Dr. J. Benjamin Younger, the executive director of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, says that environmental factors and nutrition can affect reproduction.
"It's important that people do have a good diet, and if they don't, then they should probably consider taking some type of supplement," says Younger.
But Younger stresses that while the study looked at sperm count, "they have no information about whether or not it improved pregnancy rates.
This is a long way from recommending this as a treatment, but it certainly points to the need for more research and encouraging people to eat a good diet."
Aside from diet, says Younger, he also counsels couples struggling to conceive to address such factors as smoking or extremes of weight, both of which can affect fertility.
Steegers-Theunissen and her team plan to continue this research, and hope that their findings could eventually lead to clinical success for couples attempting to conceive.
"We would like to see that to improve the nutritional state of the couples would increase pregnancy outcome," she says.
What To Do
Find out more about male subfertility and infertility from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine or IVF.com.
Learn about infertility in general from Resolve.
