21.01.2011, 11:15 3527

Antioxidants may improve male fertility

Antioxidants may improve male fertility

Almaty. January 21. Kazakhstan Today - Early research suggests that antioxidants may help improve male fertility, the agency reports.

A review of existing data found, compared with controls, a couple was more likely to have a pregnancy or live birth if the man took certain vitamins or other antioxidants, BBC reported.

ABC News reported, researchers from the University of Auckland in New Zealand reviewed 34 clinical trials that involved more than 2,500 couples undergoing infertility and subfertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization and sperm injections. The retrospective analysis found that men taking antioxidant supplements were more than four times more likely to get their partners pregnant than men who did not take the oral antioxidants. The antioxidants were associated with more than a five-fold higher rate of live births

"When trying to conceive as part of an assisted reproductive program, it may be advisable to encourage men to take oral antioxidant supplements to improve their partners' chances of becoming pregnant," said lead researcher Marian Showell of the University of Auckland in New Zealand in a press release.

The researchers said further information is needed to confirm the findings. And some fertility doctors dismissed the study entirely, discouraging patients from putting all their eggs into the antioxidant basket.

"To suggest that the use of antioxidants alone without correction of the primary cause of seminal dysfunction without treatment of the primary cause is not appropriate," said Dr. Lawrence Ross, professor of urology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The use of antioxidants is based on the theory that free radicals - highly reactive atoms with an odd number of electrons - can cause damage to the DNA in sperm, which is vital for creating an embryo.

The result could be lowered sperm counts and an impaired ability to fertilise eggs.

Dr Pacey, Senior Lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said that men with fertility problems should always consult their doctor. "Men who think antioxidant therapy may help them should consult their doctor and only take the therapy if they are advised to do so."

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