Medical Questions » Infertility Questions » Question No. 1477
| Question: | I' m trying to have a baby but my partner' s got a low sperm count. Any advice? |
| Answer: | Given today' s diets and lifestyles, it' s not surprising that many men have low sperm counts. Assuming nothing mechanical is wrong, there' s plenty your partner can do to help raise his fertility. Of all the nutrients known to affect male fertility, the mineral zinc is best researched. Not only does the body need zinc to release vitamin A (essential for making the male sex hormones) from the liver, but an adequate supply of zinc is needed for the formation of healthy sperm as it is found in high concentrations in the outer layer and tail of sperm. Beans, nuts and seeds are good, easily available sources of zinc as well as arginine, an amino acid particularly abundant in sperm. So in addition to avoiding ' anti-nutrients' such as smoking, and reducing alcohol and stress, get your partner to take a good multivitamin which contains at least 15mg of zinc, eat a moderate handful of nuts and seeds a day, and introduce more beans into his diet - easily done, as they' re a tasty addition to soups, curries, stir-fries, stews and salads. |
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