A lot of attention is given to the mother’s health but fathers should also be in optimal condition to conceive.
Pregnancy these days is usually a carefully planned event. As with so much in life though, timing is everything and many parents will aim for a winter delivery. This allows mum to be at her biggest in the cooler months, to snuggle with a newborn on cold winter nights and enjoy a bouncing baby over spring and summer. A winter birth requires an October or November conception. With so much emphasis being placed on the mother’s health the father can sometimes be ignored but the man is at least an equal contributor to baby’s health when it comes to conception. Since sperm take 120 days to form, if you are planning for an October/November conception then a man needs to be making sure he is doing the right things beginning in June/July. Fortunately, we have a good idea of what those right things are.
Preconception care
Preconception care is about getting your body ready to conceive. A healthy you means healthy sperm, eggs and babies. While the usual general health principles apply for both men and women, there are some things that a man needs to be doing that will specifically prepare him for conception.
For a start, he needs to cut down on alcohol and eliminate cigarettes. Alcohol enters the testes directly and can both cut testosterone production and reduce semen quality. Studies show that alcoholic men have reduced testosterone, more sperm abnormalities and are 10 times more likely to have erectile dysfunction than non-drinkers.(1) It is a good idea to abstain if you can prior to conception but at least keep your alcohol consumption down to 1-2 standard drinks a day. Smoking of course is a big negative factor for overall health and its impact shows up clearly in reduced fertility. Human sperm have a receptor that allows nicotine to attach to them. The effect of nicotine on sperm is to reduce their ability to attach to a female egg. The overall result is that male smokers only have 25 per cent of the fertility of non-smokers.
The other significant negative lifestyle factor for male fertility is stress. Leydig cells are
found in the testes and produce testosterone. When you have long-term stress you produce high levels of glucocorticoid hormones that attach to Leydig cells and cut testosterone production dramatically. This in turn reduces overall sperm manufacture. So finding ways to reduce your stress levels, whether by meditation,exercise, counselling, herbs or even flower essences, will improve your chances of successful conception.
Sperm food
A single healthy ejaculation contains around 2ml of semen and approximately 40 million sperm. At least 50 per cent of the sperm should be swimming forwards, even if a little lazily, and 25 per cent should be swimming forwards rapidly. So a man’s readiness for conception is reflected by both his sperm count and his sperm “motility” (the healthy forward movement of the sperm). There are certain nutrients that are essential to these issues of quantity and quality.
Zinc
Zinc is involved in the manufacture of sperm and oral zinc supplements have improved both sperm counts and sperm motility.(2) Infertile men have been shown to have low zinc levels in their blood.(3)
Magnesium
Sperm require lots of energy to achieve their goal. Magnesium is essential for the production of this energy and increases both sperm motility and sperm production.(4)
Carnitine
Infertile men who have supplemented with this amino acid for six months have shown improvements in sperm numbers, sperm forward movement and sperm total movement.(5)
Arginine
This is another amino acid required for sperm production and supplementing will increase sperm counts in infertile men.
Essential fatty acids
Healthy sperm cells consist of approximately 14 per cent docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), one of the health promoting omega-3 fatty acids. Low DHA levels have been found to occur in the semen of infertile men.(6) The best way to increase your DHA is by eating more fish like mackerel, tuna and salmon or with fish oil supplements.
Pomegranate juice
Pomegranates are gaining attention as an exceptional source of antioxidants. While some research has indicated that consumption of pomegranate may assist men with erectile dysfunction, new research is also showing that drinking the juice can increase sperm concentrations and sperm motility.(7)
References
1) Fertility and Sterility October 2005
2) Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 1998
3) J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Nov 2005
4) Magnesium: Current Status and New Developments 1997
5) Fertility and Sterility Nov 2004
6) Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids 2006
7) Clinical Nutrition Dec 2007 (online ahead of print)
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