How To Improve Men’s Sperm and Fertility Through Diet and Lifestyle

Sep 12, 2016 | Uncategorized

Sperm. It’s not something that we usually talk about over the dinner table, but perhaps we should. As women we so often look to ourselves when it comes to infertility, but the truth is male infertility is on the rise, and the quality of their sperm is on the decline. Fortunately, there’s a lot to be said for the role of diet and lifestyle when it comes to healthy sperm. We are big believers in using diet and lifestyle to heal which is why we’ve put together these tips to help you boost the health of your (or your partners) sperm.

In 2010, the World Health Organisation (WHO) changed the parameters measuring the health of men’s sperm. Suddenly, some men were not considered as fertile as they once thought.

Today, infertility is just as much as a man’s issue as a woman’s. Up to 40 percent of fertility can be traced to men! That’s almost half, which demonstrates the important role healthy sperm plays.

Research shows that poor eating habits and regular consumption of alcohol, for instance, can lower the quality and quantity of sperm, making conception more difficult. Eating healthily will not only boost your sperm quality and quantity it will also help increases your chances of conceiving a healthy child.

According to Chinese medicine, reproductive health is the result of your body being in correct balance.
Stress, poor lifestyle, inadequate diet and other factors can disrupt your natural balance. This results in poor health including impaired semen quality and quantity. It takes 70 days for your body to create and mature sperm. A healthy diet and lifestyle can increase sperm production, increase the percentage of healthy sperm, and improve sperm movement.

The following diet and lifestyle habits will help boost male fertility:

  • Lose excess weight to help increase testosterone, energy and vitality.
  • Eat a well balanced anti-inflammatory fertility diet to ensure maximum intake of minerals.
  • Choosing organic foods and chemical free personal hygiene and cleaning products.
  • Eliminate caffeine and alcohol
  • Eating foods high in natural health fats and nutrient dense help promote male fertility.
  • Take good quality supplements. Several studies show that even short-term zinc deficiencies can reduce semen volume and testosterone levels. Other studies suggest that men with low levels of folate – the same nutrient women need to reduce the baby’s risk for neural tube birth defects – have lower sperm counts.
  • Calcium and Vitamin D play a role as well. The addition of essential fatty acids and Coenzyme Q10 will help with energy production, blood flow and help control inflammation that can interfere with sperm motility. L-Carnitine, this amino acid is a necessary nutrient for sperm cells to function normally. In studies, supplementing with L-Carnitine helps to normalize sperm motility in men with low sperm quality.

Regardless of the source of infertility, it is important for both partners to support each other in the fertility process.
What can you do to improve your sperm quality and morphology.

Primarily paleolithic dietary principles, weight training, and work/play balance is important.

The paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a modern nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era—a period of about 2.5 million years duration that ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture. In common usage, such terms as the “Paleolithic diet” also refer to the actual ancestral human diet. Centered on commonly available modern foods, the “contemporary” Paleolithic diet consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.

Here’s what you can add to your diet to help create healthy sperm: 

  • Handful of brazil nuts (source of selenium)
  • Handful of pumpkin seeds (source of zinc)
  • Bananas – bromelien increases sex drive
  • Asparagus – increases sperm count
  • Dark Chocolate – powerful amino acid
  • Walnuts – omgea 3’s
  • Goji berries – high antioxidant
  • Stop drinking coffee and substitute for tea
  • Stop Alcohol
  • Supplement with Vital Greens, they are high in anti-oxidants.
  • Include lots of green vegetables in your diet.

Note: The original version of this article appeared over on Conceive Baby, we just wanted to share it on our blog too!