Making strong swimmers

Here’s what a man can do – and what he should avoid doing – to maximise his chances of making plenty of hardy, healthy, fast-swimming sperm.

HE SHOULD
Eat oranges, not chips By eating superfoods ie. fruits, vegetables, wholegrains and low-fat protein helps prevent a man from coming up short on the nutrients necessary for making top-notch sperm: vitamins C and E, zinc and folic acid are particularly important.

Over-the-counter supplements that contain sperm-friendly vitamins and minerals are safe to take and may help, but there’s no proof they boost pregnancy rates.

Review his medications Certain drugs, including steroids and those that treat high blood pressure, ulcers, hair loss and depression, may impair a man’s ability to father a child. Every medication he takes – over-the-counter as well as prescription – should be checked with his doctor or pharmacist for possible effects on fertility.

Kick some butts Smoking cigarettes creates free radicals that cause cell damage, lowering sperm count and diminishing sperm quality. Dad’s smoking habit may also increase his future children’s chances of developing leukaemia and lymphoma.

Moderate the mountain biking If a man logs a lot of miles mountain biking, he can incur testicular damage that reduces his ability to father a child. Stopping frequently to rest, wearing padded bike shorts and using a padded seat reduce the chance of problems, even if he’s a road biker.

Get a move on If he’s over 30, you may want to get started on the baby-making process. One study of healthy non-smokers found that 50-year-old men made 20 per cent less sperm than 30-year-olds. The researchers estimate that sperm volume and motility (movement) decrease by about five per cent each year after the age of 30.

What not to do...

HE SHOULDN'T
Overuse the cellphone Men who talked on cellphones for more than four hours a day produced only 75 per cent as many sperm as those who did not use the devices, a 2006 study found. Also, they had lower-quality sperm, including slower swimmers. Note: the researchers did not ask men about their diet or lifestyle, so the results of this study are not conclusive.

Get chubby In a Danish study of nearly 1 600 men, those who were overweight made significantly less sperm. In addition to having higher sperm counts, men in the normal-weight range – a body mass index (BMI) of 20 to 25 – also had a lower percentage of abnormal sperm.

Expose himself A prospective dad needs to take care with chemicals, especially if he’s a painter, printer, fireman, farm worker or caretaker/cleaner. A review of 10 years of studies linked these occupations to birth defects. He should check if his workplace provides proper protection and ventilation.

Do recreational drugs Smoking marijuana turns sperm into hyperswimmers that “burn out” before they’re able to make their way to the egg. Also, cocaine may actually adhere to sperm without hampering its ability to fertilise an egg, increasing the chances that a child may be affected by the father’s drug use.

Drink too much Heavy drinking is linked with decreased sperm formation and function. While the precise link between moderate drinking and fertility in men is murky, a prospective father should play it safe by limiting alcoholic beverages to two a day, max.

Let them get too hot! Sperm thrive at normal body temperature. Wearing tight briefs hikes the heat in the scrotum, possibly suppressing sperm production (though this isn’t proven). Laptop computers may do the same. A study at the State University of New York at Stony Brook looked at 29 healthy men aged from 21 to 35 and found that balancing computers on their laps for an hour increased scrotal temperature by about 5˚ F.

Another study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 2006, found that men’s exposure to heat sources such as saunas in the three months prior to conception was linked to two types of brain tumours in their children.

Finally, a new study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, linked male infertility to repeated exposure to high water temperatures in baths, hot tubs or Jacuzzis. Fortunately, in nearly half the cases, the ill effects on sperm were reversible; in the other half, smoking was believed to be a contributing factor.