Click here to read about some of the people we've helped.  We're here to help you, too. Get four essential health reports by joining our e-news community.

Four FREE health reports for you

Register now for our vital and insightful health updates, and get four free health reports to help you live more healthily.

First Name:Email:


Semen quality affects chances of conception

Male fertility may be more complex than previously imagined. The combination of motility and semen volume traditional measurements of semen quality are not, it seems, as important as other factors when predicting the likelihood of impregnation.

Results of a study of 430 couples show that while the possibility of conception increased with increasing sperm concentration up to 40 x 104 /mL seminal fluid, it was also very important that the sperm were of normal shape (morphology) and motility.

The study found that a man with a lower sperm concentration is still likely to be fertile, providing a high proportion of the sperm present were of a normal morphology.

The study also found that sperm concentrations above 40 x 104 /mL did not make a man significantly more likely to impregnate his partner. Indeed, some men with sperm counts above the lower limits of normal (20 X 104 /mL, as defined by the World Health Organisation, may actually be sub fertile (Lancet, 1998; 352: 1172-7).



WDDTY Blog Speak

Estrogen: sperm fall off - Widespread use of synthetic estrogens like the contraceptive pill and hormone replacement therapy may account for the dramatic fall in sperm counts of...

Sperm: count on decline - Study after study over the past 20 years has indicated that male fertility is declining in industrialized societies, but doctors are still not sure. ....

Sperm: large count down - Concerns that the environment may be affecting fertility seem to be confirmed by a recent study of sperm which discovered that quality has dropped...

Finnish sperm: fast and furious - Something in the Finnish lifestyle seems to make its male population the most fertile in the world. ...

Infertility: Soy reduces sperm quality - Soy food and isoflavones, a hormone derived from soy products, can make men infertile, a new study has discovered.

Declining sperm - Although the issue of declining male sperm count has been hotly debated in the medical press, mounting evidence points to pesticides. A workshop helpe...

Herbal combination best for burns - After years of studying and using alternative remedies, I find that the most effective treatment for burns (first- and second-degree) is Weleda’s Comb...

Sperm quality reduced after 35 - Older men are also producing less sperm, and of a poorer quality. The worrying trend, observed mainly in younger men and those attending infertility c...