Eating nuts “significantly” increases the number and improves the health of sperm in young males, the study found. The findings “support a beneficial role of chronic consumption of tree nuts to improve sperm quality,” say the researchers, stressing, however, that the study tested healthy, able to produce offspring men.
The potential benefits of nuts for men who are suffering from a lack of fertility remains to be explored.
In the study, researchers recruited 119 men aged 18-35 years and divided them into two groups.
One group daily intake of 60 grams of almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts in addition to their normal diet to “Western-style”, and the second group received no nuts at all.
After 14 weeks in the “nut” group “number, viability, motility and shape of spermatozoa significantly improved,” that is associated with male fertility, or fertility. In addition, subjects in the “nut” group demonstrated a significant reduction in the level of DNA fragmentation of sperm, which is closely associated with male infertility.
The results are consistent with the improvement of spermatozoa observed in other studies that have examined diet rich in omega 3, antioxidants (vitamins C and E), selenium, zinc and folic acid.
Nuts are rich in many of these nutrients.
The results of the study were presented at the meeting of the European society of human reproduction and embryology in Barcelona.
Does this mean that men who want to conceive should add nuts to your diet?
“We can’t say,” says study co-author albert Salas-Watos from the University of Rovira and Virgili in Spain. “But in the literature there is accumulating evidence that changes of a healthy lifestyle, such as following a healthy diet scheme, can help in conception, and nuts, of course, are a key component of the Mediterranean diet.”
Study: walnuts improve fertility in men
Ilya Hel