"Junk Food" Make Fewer sperm

Research has demonstrated a variety of negative effects of the consumption of junk food on health. In fact, says the latest study, the consumption of junk food is also related to the amount of sperm production in men.

In a small study reported in the journal Human Reproduction, researchers studied a group of 99 men attending a fertility clinic in the United States. The results showed that men who consume high amounts of fat tend to have fewer sperm.


The study also found that a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish and vegetable oils, can help improve the quality of sperm.

Lead researcher Professor Jill Attaman, of Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, said, "The relationship between the two is quite big. This finding is both a reason to encourage everyone to limit their consumption of saturated fat is associated with the development of cardiovascular disease."

In the study, researchers divided the participants into three groups of men to see how much of their fat consumption. The results show, than those who ate less fat, fat man with the highest intake had 43 percent of the amount of sperm and lower sperm concentrations of 38 per cent lower. Sperm concentration is defined as the number of sperm per unit volume of cement.

Researchers emphasized that high-fat diet does not seem to interfere with the fertility of the male respondents in this research. In fact, no male sperm count below the WHO threshold set that is at least 39 million to 15 million per milliliter concentrations. Even in men who consumed the highest fat content (37 percent calories exceed normal limits), the number of sperm concentration reached 125 million with an average of 51 million per milliliter.

However, researchers still account for the fact that 71 percent of male respondents are overweight or obese, in which case it will certainly have a negative impact on sperm quality.

Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, assess the research is still limited and needs to be studied further. "It's a relatively small study that showed no association between intake of saturated fat diet with semen quality," he said

Pacey pleaded not surprised by these findings and the future he hopes there will be further research to clarify the relationship between the two. "There are several ways to improve the quality of sperm for infertile men with eating include eating a healthy diet, quitting smoking and if you are overweight should try to lose weight in the normal range," he added.