I know it's cruel, but I can't help it. Every time I see yet another study -- and especially reviews of multiple studies! -- that point a finger at men's role in subfertility... well...
Sorry, that's just me being ugly, as my mother would say.
But seriously. For how many decades were women the ones who were not only poked and prodded but also told to Straighten Up & Fly Right To Get Pregnant?
Wow. I had no idea that this much emotion about the topic was still laden in my underpinnings.
You might already know that my main problem with trying to have a baby back in the Dark Ages was recurrent miscarriage. Getting pregnant, we could do. Every six months, in fact. But keepin' the little suckers around long enough to develop from a fetus into a baby... not my forte. So in my mid- to late-30's, I started living like a nun. You name it, I gave it up. Even yoga. I did the best I could afford diet-wise and pounded supplements, near as I can recall.
I won't tell you about the healthy lifestyle "efforts" (or lack thereof) that my son's dad engaged in at the time, because it would be tantamount to slander. And I really do like the guy and have no intention of rocking his world now. Thing is, nobody asked him to do anything different once that semen analysis came back normal. So why should he?
But studies here and there have been sneaking up on men, and the researchers are finally tsk-tsk'ing them to change their ways or risk not passing those fantastic genes on.
An intervention review published in this month's Cochrane Review looked at 34 trials with 2876 couples where the study objective was to find connections between men taking antioxidant supplements and their reproductive outcomes.
The conclusion of this review: Pooled findings support increases in live births and pregnancy rates with the use of antioxidants by the male partner. Further work is recommended to confirm these findings.
YES!!
In a press release, lead researcher Marian Showell, Obstetrics and Gynaecology at University of Auckland, said more comparisons between different supplements are needed to understand whether any one antioxidant is performing better than any other. Still, she and her colleagues believe the evidence is strong enough to state, “When trying to conceive as part of an assisted reproductive program, it may be advisable to encourage men to take oral antioxidant supplements to improve their partners’ chances of becoming pregnant.”
So, go to it, guys. And if you're past baby-making age or stage, then take it upon yourself to educate the young men following in your footsteps. Making babies is *not* strictly a woman's job any more.
Showell MG, Brown J, Yazdani A, Stankiewicz MT, Hart RJ. Antioxidants for male subfertility. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD007411. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007411.pub2


