Dietary fats, fatty acids affect sperm quality

Issue: December 2010

ASRM Annual Meeting

Researchers at Harvard have found a relationship between fat consumption and semen quality: The more fat a man consumes, the lower his sperm concentration. This holds true for consumption of both saturated fats and monounsatured fats.

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study that included 91 men attending the Massachusetts General Hospital Fertility Center. Each of the men had manual and computer-aided semen analyses at baseline, and completed a food frequency questionnaire that assessed their intake of fats and fatty acids. A subgroup of the men also had the fatty acid levels in their sperm and seminal plasma measured.

Results showed a significant inverse relationship between total fat intake and sperm concentration (P=.03), that was primarily driven by saturated and monounsaturated fat intake.

Men who had the highest third intake of saturated fat had 41% fewer sperm compared with men in the lowest third (P=.02). Similarly, men with the highest third intake of monounsaturated fat had 46% fewer sperm than men in the lowest third (P=.003).

Polyunsaturated fat intake was associated with more beneficial effects in the men studied. Those who consumed a lot of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats had greater sperm motility and a higher intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats was related to better sperm morphology. The researchers reported no association between saturated fat intake and sperm levels.

For more information:

Attaman JA. O-168. Presented at: 66th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine; Oct. 23-27, 2010; Denver.

Men who are planning to father children should be encouraged to achieve and maintain a healthy weight and to consider their diets. What you eat affects your whole body, including your sperm cells.

– Nancy Brackett, PhD
President of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology

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