Low Folate Levels May Harm Sperm

This isn't the first study to find a link between diet and sperm health. A report published last year inHuman Reproductionfound that women who ate beef seven or more times per week tended to produce sons with lowered sperm counts, perhaps due to the effects of hormones or pesticides on developing testes.

One expert agrees that healthy eating is linked to having healthy babies -- even for men.

"This is another common-sense article that says good nutrition is associated with a better reproductive outcome," said Dr. Jamie Grifo, director of reproductive endocrinology at New York University Medical Center.

Grifo noted that rates of abnormal sperm seen in the Berkeley study were four to six per 1,000, which means that men with poor nutrition still had more than 99 percent normal sperm.

"Even though this may be the case, don't smoke, drink modestly, eat healthy unprocessed food and take your vitamins," Grifo advised prospective fathers.

More information

For more on infertility, visit the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.

SOURCES: Brenda Eskenazi, Ph.D., professor, maternal and child health and epidemiology, director of the Center for Children's Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley; Jamie Grifo, M.D., Ph.D., director of reproductive endocrinology, New York University Medical Center, New York City; March 20, 2008,Human Reproduction