Scientists at the University of California asked a group of young men in their 20s and 30s to eat 75g of walnuts every day for three months,can make a man’s sperm
stronger, faster and prettier, researchers said --
and it’s possible the
nuts could provide a natural solution for some men with fertility
problems.
Tests on healthy, young men -- none of whom were infertile -- showed
walnuts perked up their sperm considerably. Dr. Wendie Robbins and UCLA
researchers want to test men with fertility problems next.
The nuts provide healthful omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins such as
folic acid and minerals important for sperm development such as zinc and
selenium, Robbins says.
“I don’t think we have paid enough attention to young men and their
diet when they are ready to start a family,” Robbins said. “It’s all
about the woman. There is not a lot that we know to tell men. This was
really fun.”
For the study published on 14th Aug 2012, the researchers recruited 117
healthy men, ages 21 to 35, who were eating normal Western diets. Half
the men, 58 in all, got a batch of snack-sized packs of walnuts to eat
every day on top of their normal diets, while the others just continued
normally. The researchers tested their sperm at the beginning and after
three months.
“The men who were eating the walnuts had more sperm that had normal
shapes compared to men just on the regular diets,” Robbins says.
The dose of walnuts was important. Robbins settled on 75 grams a day
-- about 2.6 ounces -- an amount that was shown to raise blood levels of
omega-3 fatty acids, to lower cholesterol and, most importantly, not
put weight on the men. “These were healthy, fit young men and they were
concerned about their figures,” Robbins said.
This amount was equal to two and a half one-ounce snack packs of walnuts a day.
We also gave them recipes,” Robbins said. The men were told they could sprinkle the nuts on cereal, salad or yogurt.
About 20 percent of the men had low sperm counts, although they
hadn’t been diagnosed as infertile. The sperm of these men, it turned
out, improved the most after eating walnuts every day for three months,
Robbins reported in the journal Biology of Reproduction.
At least one study, done in Iran, showed that men who took fish oil
supplements after visiting an infertility clinic had improved sperm
quality. But Robbins didn’t want to use fish oil, even though it’s rich
in omega-3s. And some people don't want to take a supplement.
"We wanted to look at a plant source of omega-3," she said. "Walnuts
are a renewable resource, a little more than, say, fish. We are fishing
out a lot of places."
Now Robbins wants to test the idea in men with fertility problems.
She noted some studies that had raised fears that the sperm count of men
living in Western societies was going down, although researchers do not
agree on whether this is actually happening. “Some people suggested
this could be due to the Western diet,” she said. “Diet is really
powerful and much underrated.”
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