How Key Nutrient-Rich Foods Boost Sperm Health

There are many nutrients in foods that promote optimum sperm health. Healthy sperm is essential for male fertility. If you’re trying to conceive, you can improve the quality of your sperm by eating only nutrient-rich foods. This is because nutrition and male fertility go hand-in-hand.

Key Nutrients for Sperm Quality & Quantity

Zinc

Zinc plays a key in regulating sperm count and quality. Men who are infertile tend to have zinc levels than men who are fertile.

You can up your zinc intake by eating:

• oysters
• red meat and poultry
• shellfish, such as crab and lobster
• fortified breakfast cereals
• nuts and beans
• whole wheat grain products
• dairy

Folate

Folate is a B vitamin that is linked to sperm health. Low folate is associated with damaged sperm DNA, lower sperm densities, and lower sperm counts.

You can up your folate intake by eating:

• green, leafy vegetables, such as spinach, romaine lettuce, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus
• fruits and fruit juices, especially oranges and orange juice
• nuts, beans, and peas
• whole grains
• fortified breakfast cereals
• enriched flour products, such as breads and pasta

Vitamin B-12

Vitamin B-12 is a critical nutrient to overall sperm health. B-12 improves sperm motility, increases sperm count, and reduces sperm DNA damage.

You can up your B-12 by eating:

• fish and seafood, especially clams
• meats and poultry, especially liver
• dairy products, such as eggs and milk
• fortified breakfast cereals
• nutritional yeasts

Male-Factor Infertility

Identifying and choosing high quality sperm to fertilize an egg is crucial in male-factor infertility cases. Negative influences of male-factor infertility must be negated to ensure successful embryo development. Using HRSS – High Resolution Sperm Selection, embryologists are able to better visualize sperm for Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) administration.

ICSI is the process of injecting a quality sperm directly into an egg for fertilization. HRSS is helping embryologists see, identify, and choose only high quality sperm cells for fertilization of an egg in vitro.

HRSS Technology

At 6000 x magnification – using Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) microscopy – it is possible for embryologists to see finer morphological details of sperm. Using conventional 500 x magnification, these details would go unnoticed.

By viewing sperm cells at 6000 x magnification, lab technicians can identify quality sperm cells that are optimum for fertilization of a healthy egg.

Once optimum sperm cells have been identified, a two-pronged process takes place.

• Selection
• Injection

Once the quality sperm cells are selected and separated using HRSS, they are injected into the egg for fertilization. Each egg receives a single sperm injection.

• Reduces chances of a negative impact a sperm can have on a perfectly healthy egg
• Removes any negative influence that male-factor infertility may have on successful embryo development
• Increase the chances of a viable pregnancy

HRSS Identifies Optimum Sperm

A sperm cell’s normal appearance makes it more likely to be comprised of normal chromosomes and DNA structure. Optimum sperm morphology correlates directly with successful egg fertilization and embryo implantation. Morphology is the most important criteria when judging the quality of a sperm cell.

• Sperm motility – ability of the cell to swim
• Sperm morphology – overall assessment of the cell’s shape, size, and physical appearance

Fertility Doctor to Boost Your Sperm Health

It is important to work with a fertility doctor having the experience required to design a customized fertility treatment plan meeting your personal needs. To schedule your initial consultation with Dr. John Zhang at New Hope Fertility Center – call 917.525.5496.