Study Finds Antioxidants Boost Male Fertility Health

by | Oct 29, 2010 | 2010, Antioxidants, Carnitine, Men's Health, NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine), Reproductive Health

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. A review of 17 studies including 1665 men found improvement in sperm quality with supplementation of 450-600IU vitamin E per day, carnitine at 2000mg/day, and significant benefits with 600 mg N-acetyl cysteine per day.

Infertility has become a growing problem in the United States. Over 6 million women aged 15-44 are estimated have an impaired ability to have children, 9 million women have used infertility services and over 2 million couples are infertile (1). One cycle of in vitro fertilization costs an average of $12,000 (2).

Although much of the concern over infertility focuses on the female, it is estimated that 25% of infertility among couples can be attributed to diminished semen quality and other male factors (3). The exact cause of diminished semen quality is generally poorly understood, but it is thought that occupation (4), lifestyle (5), age (6) and diet all play a role.

Fortunately, research has started to suggest that antioxidant supplementation may help with male infertility. Now a review of the research (7) has confirmed the benefits of antioxidants for male fertility. In the review, researchers indentified 17 studies involving 1,665 men. They found 82% of the studies (14 of 17) showed an improvement in either sperm quality or pregnancy rate after antioxidant therapy, with doses of vitamin E at 450 (8) and 600 (9) IU per day, carnitine at 2,000 mg (10) and 3,000 mg (11) per day, and two studies finding “significant benefits” with 600 mg of N-acetyl cysteine per day (12,13).

When they looked at pregnancy rates, 6 of the 10 studies showed “a significant improvement” after antioxidant therapy, with astaxanthin (16 mg per day produced pregnancies in 6/11 cases vs. 2/19 in the placebo group) (14), 2 grams of Carnitine with 1 gram Acetyl L-carnitine per day (22/101 pregnancies vs 2/118 in N-S placebo group) (11), and 400 mg zinc sulphate per day (11/49 pregnancies vs. 2/48 in N-S placebo
group) (15).

For the researchers, “The use of oral antioxidants (and other nutrients) in infertile men could improve sperm quality and pregnancy rates” and that “adequately powered robust trials of individual and combinations of antioxidants (and other nutrients) are needed to guide clinical practice.”

Source: Ross, C., et al. “A systematic review of the effect of oral antioxidants on male infertility.” Reproductive biomedicine online 20.6 (2010): 711-723.

© 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Posted October 29, 2010.

References:

  1. “Intertility” posted on the National Center for Health Statistics website.
  2. A Public Health Focus on Infertility Prevention, Detection, and Management” – on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
  3. Templeton A (1995) Infertility—epidemiology, aetiology and effective management. Health Bull (Edinb) 53, 294–298.
  4. Kenkel S, Rolf C and Nieschlag E (2001) Occupational risks for male fertility: an analysis of patients attending a tertiary referral centre. Int J Androl 24, 318–326.
  5. Auger J, Eustache F, Andersen AG, Irvine DS, Jorgensen N, Skakkebaek NE, Suominen J, Toppari J, Vierula M and Jouannet P (2001) Sperm morphological defects related to environment, lifestyle and medical history of 1001 male partners of pregnant women from four European cities. Hum Reprod 16, 2710–2717.
  6. Eskenazi B, Wyrobek AJ, Sloter E, Kidd SA, Moore L, Young S and Moore D (2003) The association of age and semen quality in healthy men. Hum Reprod 18, 447–454.
  7. Ross C.  A systematic review of the effect of oral antioxidants on male infertility.  Reproductive BioMedicine 2010; 20: 711-713.
  8. Suleiman, S.A., Elamin Ali, M., Zaki, Z.M.S., et at., 1996. Lipid peroxidation and human sperm motility: protective role of vitamin E. J. Androt. 17, 530-537.
  9. Keskes-Ammar, L., Feki-Chakroun, N., Rebai, T., et al., 2003. Sperm oxidative stress and the effect of an oral vitamin E and selenium supplement on semen quality in infertile men. Arch. Androl. 49, 83-94.
  10. Balercia, G., Regoli, F., Armeni, T., et al., 2005. Placebo-controlled double-blind randomized trial on the use of L-carnitine, L-acetylcarnitine, or combined L-carnitine and L-acetylcarnitine in men with idiopathic asthenozoospermia. Fértil. Steril. 84, 662-671.
  11. Cavaltini, G., Ferraretti, A.P., Gianarotli, L.. et al., 2004. Cinnoxicam and L-carnitine/acetyl-i-carnitine treatment for idiopathic and varicocoele-associated oligoasthenospermia. J. Androl. 25, 761-770.
  12. Ciftci, H., Verit, A., Savas, M., et al., 2009. Effects of Nacetylcysteine on semen parameters and oxidative/antioxidant status. Urology 74, 73-76.
  13. Safarinejad, M.R., Safarinejad, S., 2009. Effieaey of selenium and/ or N-acetyl-eysteine for improving semen parameters in infertile men: a double-blind, plaeebo eontrolled, randomized study. J. Urol. 181, 741-751.
  14. Comhaire, F.H., El Garem, Y., Mahmoud, A., et al., 2005. Combined conventional/ antioxidant ‘Astaxanthin’ treatment for mate infertitity; a double blind, randomized trial. Asian J. Androl. 7, 257-262.
  15. Omu, A.E., Oahti, H., Al-Othman, S., 1998. Treatment of asthenozoospermia with zine sulphate: andrological, immunologieal and obstetric outcome. Eur. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. Reprod. Biol. 79, 179-184