Study Shows That Fish Oil Supplements Helps Males To Be More Fertile and To Have Larger Testicles
Source: Thailand Medical News Jan 19, 2020 4 years, 11 months, 4 days, 10 hours, 10 minutes ago
A new study by researchers from the University of Southern Denmark indicates that couples struggling to get pregnant might want to add a little more fish in their diet. Young
males and middle aged
males who take
fish oil supplements appear to have better
sperm quality and higher
testosterone levels than those who don't, as well as
larger testicles, the researchers report.
Though it wasn't tested as part of the study, all these male reproductive factors should lead to overall improved
fertility in young men taking
fish oil, said lead researcher Dr Tina Kold Jensen, a Professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Southern Denmark.
Dr Jensen told
Thailand Medical News, "Because they have a better
sperm count, as a group they would have a better chance of fertilizing an egg."
Typically,
fertility supplements haven't always had a great track record. For instance,
supplements containing zinc and folic acid don't appear to boost male fertility despite their reputation, according to a study published this month in the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
So too, this latest study can't prove a direct cause-and effect link between
fish oil and the improvements in
sperm counts and
testosterone levels, much less an improvement in overall fertility, noted Dr Albert Salas-Huetos, a postdoctoral researcher of male infertility at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City.
Dr Salas-Huetos, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study added, "With one observational study, it's impossible to recommend
fish oil to a general population. Well-designed randomized clinical trials are necessary to establish a causal relationship."
The research findings and editorial were published in the journal
JAMA Network Open.
However, Dr Jensen arguedthat there's reason in the data to believe that the
omega-3 fatty acids in
fish oil had a direct effect on
sperm count and
testosterone levels.
Typically,
sperm cells contain a lot of
omega-3 fatty acid, so it would make sense that increasing your intake would lead to healthier
sperm, Dr Jensen said.
The research involved nearly 1,700 young Danish men who reported for a compulsory medical examina
tion between 2012 and 2017 to determine their fitness to serve in the military.
Dr Jensen added, "They were healthy 18- or 19-year-old men with no diseases and no knowledge of their
fertility."
The medical researchers offered the men $74 to complete an additional questionnaire and provide semen and blood samples.
Approximately 6% of the men reported using
fish oil supplements within the past three months, and half of those said they'd taken them 60 or more days during that period, researchers said. These men had significantly higher semen volume and total
sperm count, researchers found. Interestingly, the study found no significant difference in
sperm quality when they looked at men taking other sorts of daily
supplements, Dr Jensen said.
Dr Jensen added, "The men who took multivitamins or B vitamins or C vitamin didn't have the same effect. To me, that points to the fact that it could be the
fish oil and not just the healthiness of the men or their healthier lifestyle."
Dr Jensen added that she would expect to see the same effect in older men taking
fish oil supplements
Two past clinical trials found that older men had better
sperm counts after 14 weeks of eating nuts as a means of improving their
omega-3 intake, Dr Jensen said.
Dr Jensen said she would definitely recommend taking
fish oil supplements to try and improve male
fertility.
She added, "It would be even better to eat more fish, to make sure you have a healthy diet with a lot of fish included."
Dr Salas-Huetos said the new study is an important step in figuring out the factors that influence male
fertility.
Dr Salas-Huetos added, "As you know, human
sperm quality has declined worldwide in the last 50 years. It's really important to find the factors that are associated with human semen decline. Pollution, smoking, alcohol, lack of physical activity, stress and unhealthy diets have been associated with a decline in semen quality.”
Reference: Associations of Fish Oil Supplement Use With Testicular Function in Young Men
Tina Kold Jensen, PhD; Lærke Priskorn, PhD; Stine A. Holmboe, PhD; et al
JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(1):e1919462. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.19462
