Bacon, Fish and Sperm

Patients are always asking me are there dietary changes they can make to enhance their chances for pregnancy. In the case of men with low sperm counts, the answer is often no. However, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health looked at men’s diet and the quality of their sperm in a study presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) meeting. Interestingly, they found that men who consumed lots of processed meats such as bacon and sausage had poorer quality sperm and those who consumed lots of dark meat fish such as salmon and tuna had better quality sperm. While these findings are preliminary; the study size is small and the data has not been published yet, this does suggest that nutrition may play a real role in male infertility.