Food and male infertility

The male sterility in industrialized countries is in worrying increase : according to recent epidemiological data, approximately 20% of couples of childbearing age have difficulty in procreating and there is a male factor infertility in about 40-50% of these cases.

The causes are many, among them some are due to environmental and behavioral:

Pesticides: abundantly used they are harmful to sperm production. They were also found in meat of polar bears in South Pole to show how they are evenly distributed in the food chain all over the planet.
Ionizing isotopes: in the last 50 years the species "homo sapiens" had to do with a quantity of ionizing isotopes in the atmosphere higher than that derived from the total sum of cosmic radiation on our planet. These ionizing isotopes derive mainly from the fallout of war and accidents at experimental stations. The isotopes from Hiroshinma and Nagasaki bombs are still circulating in the atmosphere! The more is high the metabolism of a tissue or organ and the more it is sensitive to radiation damage: a healthy testicle produces 120 million new cells per day, therefore is very sensitive! It is not a coincidence that the testicular cancer are soaring in the last 20 years.
The sexual behaviours with an increase the genital infections minors (prostatitis, vescicles, urethritis) from common germs. These are not real venereal diseases but if ignored they become chronic and can cause obstructive damage in the fallopian tubes in women and in the seminal tract in male.
Many hours of driving , excess fat in the diet and sedentary lifestyle are responsible of increase of chronic inflammatory diseases such as prostatitis, frequently present in male infertility, even in the absence of detected infections.
The cigarette smoking which causes direct damage and progressive motility of sperm, amply demonstrated by hundreds of studies in the literature.
The estrogens: they are practically always used in slaughter animals and an excess of estrogen in the male produces damage on the development of testis and spermatogenesis.

The importance of nutrition:

Many food products are exposed to concentrations of pollutants and chemical compounds: non-organic fruits and vegetables almost always contain pesticide residues, the tuna is contaminated with mercury and sausages and industrial preparations have nitrites, nitrates and preservatives, the meat is contaminated with antibiotics and hormones: one of the functions of estrogen is to store energy as a fat from the food. This is why estrogens are administered to livestock in large quantities, because those animals are sold by weight, more fat they are and more increases their value. The estrogen contributes to growth in weight but also increases fluid retention.

An increase of estrogen in a man's body can cause many adverse effects, in addition to infertility: weight gain, loss of libido, sexual dysfunction, gynecomastia, small testicles, increased of risk of prostate cancer or bone cancer or breast cancer.

In women the high level of estrogen is often the cause of premenstrual syndrome, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, fibroids, breast cancer, infertility, osteoporosis and disorders of menopause.

The weapons that we can use to defend ourselves, unfortunately, are not many. From the nutritional point of view is useful:

- Eat organic vegetables and fruit: in particular apples, green leafy vegetables, peppers and oranges because they seems useful to increase the number of produced sperm.

- Avoid junk food (full of preservatives, dyes, sweeteners)

- Reduce the consumption of meat. It seems that especially the chicken and turkey are rich in estrogen but any meat is not free from risk. According to some studies, eating too much meat during pregnancy can reduce fertility of male children.

Substances friends of male fertility are:

Zinc: that is found in fish and seafood, eggs, milk
Selenium: increases the number of spermatozoon and their motility. Selenium can be assimilated also from garlic
Vitamin E: a potent antioxidant that is found in large amounts in extra virgin olive oil and almonds
Vitamin C : a tonic for sperm that we can found especially in red fruit
Omega-3 fatty acids: found in fish, in particular in bluefish
Folate: in foods like green leafy vegetables, legumes and oranges

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