Adding nuts to male diet improves sperm function: Study

Snacking on nuts every day may be linked with better sperm health, according to new research.

In a study by Spanish scientists, men who added two handfuls of mixed nuts — almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts — to their daily diet saw an improvement in both sperm count and sperm motility compared to the control group who did not, the BBC reported. 

The results of the experiment were presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology taking place this week in Barcelona.

Researchers are concerned of a declining quality of sperm in industrialized countries, a result of increased pollution, cigarette smoking and a Western-style diet, lead author of the study Dr. Albert Aalas-Huetos, from the Human Nutrition Unit of the University Rovira I Virgil in Reus Spain, said in a statement.

The experiment divided 119 healthy men between the ages of 18 to 35 into two groups, with one adding the two handfuls of mixed nuts to their diet and followed for 14 weeks.

The group who added nuts to their diet were found to have significant improvement in a number of benchmarks for healthy sperm. This included a 16 percent improvement in sperm count, a 4 percent improvement in sperm vitality, a 6 percent in sperm motility and a 1 percent improvement in morphology (shape).

Researchers also looked at sperm DNA fragmentation, closely associated with male infertility, and found that this was also less in the group that ate the nuts.

Drawbacks to the study include that all the men were healthy, apparently fertile and eating a specific diet, Dr. Sala-Huetos noted, and that results should not be applied to the total population.

“But evidence is accumulating in the literature that healthy lifestyle changes such as following a healthy dietary pattern might help conception,” the doctor added, “and of course, nuts are a key component of a Mediterranean healthy diet.”