Nuts improve sperm quality – study

Men who eat a handful two handfuls of mixed almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts daily for 14 weeks improved their sperm count and had more viable “swimmers”, scientists found.

Researchers said there was growing evidence a healthy diet could boost the odds of conceiving. Smoking and bad diet have the opposite effect.

The scientists randomly divided 119 healthy men between the ages of 18 and 35 into two groups:

One added 60 grams (2oz) of nuts a day to their normal diet
One made no changes to what they ate

Those in the nut group improved sperm:

count by 14%
vitality by 4%
motility (movement) by 6%
morphology (shape and size) by 1%

All of these are the parameters the World Health Organization lists as measurements of sperm quality and are associated with male fertility.

Experts said the study backed up others that showed a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and the B vitamin folate improved fertility.

Nuts contain many of these and other nutrients.

However, researchers cautioned that these men were healthy and apparently fertile, so it was not clear whether the findings would apply to the wider population, including men with fertility problems.

The results of the study are being presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona.