Folate required for healthy Sperms: Study

Folates are well known for their use in preventing birth defects in pregnant women. But a latest study has found that when used by men, these help to keep men's sperm normal.

The team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley has found that Vitamin B helps the sperms in men to remain healthy and less damaged than the other men whose folate intake was less.

Most of the researches on the sperm quality have concentrated on chemotherapy for cancerdefine treatment and exposure to pesticides. But diet had not been investigated, the researchers said.

The problem found in men is known as Aneuploidy, in which sperms are abnormal as they have either lost or gained a chromosome. The researchers looked at three specific chromosomes: X, Y and 21.

Sperm Aneuploidy can cause failure to conceive, causes up to a third of miscarriages and causes children to be born with Down's syndrome and other rare chromosomal syndromes.

"We found a statistically significant association between high folate intake and lower sperm Aneuploidy," said Brenda Eskenazi, the study’s lead author.

The study used the samples from 89 healthy men who submitted sperm samples to be analyzed. They also submitted surveys pertaining to their daily total intake of zinc, folate, vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene in both food and supplements.

The researchers found that the men who had the highest intake of folate, 722 to 1,150 micrograms a day had a 20 percent to 30 percent lower frequency of several types of sperm abnormalities, compared with men who consumed less folate.

Folate is one of the B vitamins and is found in leafy green vegetables, fruit and beans, chickpeas and lentils. By law, breads and grains sold in the United States are also now specially added with folate to help prevent the birth defects.

Scientists may now recommend men to take folic acid for at least three months before trying to conceive. But study authors said they cannot be sure that it is the high intake of folate that leads directly to fewer sperm abnormalities and it may be possible that the men were generally healthier.

The study has been published in the journal ‘Human Reproduction.’