The decision to have a child is usually one of joy and excitement for your future child's life. The process of childbirth is a miraculous one that allows us to create the next generation of humanity and continue our legacy.
As remarkable as the childbirth process is, it is far from the perfect biological system. The ability to reproduce and have children is founded on the parents' fertility levels, which are not guaranteed to be viable for everyone.
While infertility is a serious issue that plagues women, many people have overlooked that men also have infertility. Men with infertility usually have issues with their sperm production, making their ability to impregnate their partner extremely difficult or outright impossible.
Male infertility can be devastating both physically and mentally since it impacts the ability to have a child and can undermine their confidence. Infertility can negatively affect the mindset of someone looking forward to having a child of their own. Fortunately, not all cases of infertility are permanent, and certain changes to your lifestyle might help restore the health of your sperm.
While multiple details affect men's fertility levels, one of the most important is your diet. Sometimes, the simplest solution is changing your diet to introduce certain nutrients that can promote healthier sperm and restore your fertility levels. The only question is which foods should be added to your daily intake.
#1: Oysters
One of the more expensive additions to one's diet is seafood, particularly mollusks and crustaceans. When trying to overcome infertility, seafood is easily one of the most important tools to grace your arsenal. More specifically, oysters are the best possible addition to your diet when using food to supplement your fertility levels. Oysters are considered one of the best fertility-supplementing foods because of the wide range of nutrients and vitamins found in a single oyster.
Oysters contain:
- Vitamin B12: A naturally occurring vitamin known for aiding in metabolic processes.
- Zinc: A chemical element that contributes to the immune system and metabolic health.
- Selenium: A chemical element with known antioxidant traits.
- Vitamin D: A naturally occurring vitamin that aids in bone development.
These compounds have shown promise in improving sperm count, motility, and quality. These factors, once improved, can overpower the root cause of infertility in men. The truly important substance is the presence of omega-3 fatty acids, which also have sperm-enhancing qualities.
#2: Fatty Fish
Keeping with the nautical theme of the previous section, fish are some of the best tools for combatting infertility. Like oysters, fish carry omega-3 fatty acids that can improve overall health and sperm levels. However, not every fish species is created equal; some have more omega-3 than others. Depending on the fish you consume, you have a greater chance of introducing omega-3 to your body. The higher the fat content of the fish, the higher the omega-3 concentration.
Some of the best fatty fish to introduce to your diet are:
- Anchovies
- Salmon
- Herring
- Sardines
Introducing any of these fatty fish to your diet can help bolster the omega-3 levels in your body. In addition to improving sperm levels in the body, omega-3 fatty acids can improve blood flow to the genitals. This helps improve physical performance in the bedroom and improves the chances of successfully impregnating your partner once your sperm count has increased.
#3: Beef
While too much red meat in your diet can do more harm than good, it is an excellent source of several nutrients known to improve fertility. Beef is similar to oysters because it has a significantly high zinc content. While we touched on zinc being a useful tool for improving fertility levels in men, we did not fully explain how this works. High zinc concentrations are commonly found in seminal plasma, confirming its status as an essential component of sperm production.
This was further confirmed by a meta-analysis of zinc and how it applies to male fertility. This analysis confirmed that introducing supplementary zinc improves the volume, motility, and percentage of sperm.
A pound of your average ribeye steak contains around 22.4 mg of zinc, making it a valuable source of zinc for men looking to up their intake. Most steaks share this high zinc content, making them one of the more beneficial meals for enhancing your fertility levels. Additionally, red meat contains Acetyl L-Carnitine (ACL), an ammonium compound that plays an essential role in sperm development. Carnitine can improve sperm motility, which means adding more to our diet can further improve the motility of all sperm your body naturally produces.
#4: Maca Root
While a bit of a departure from the other items listed here, maca root is not a substance you should ignore when combatting infertility. Lepidium meyenii, known colloquially as maca root, is a Peruvian plant similar to ginseng in many ways. What truly makes maca root worthy of consideration is its growing list of benefits for treating infertility and improving libido.
While not limited to men, maca root has been researched for its ability to improve the sex drives of multiple patients across several studies. The truly interesting detail about maca root is its potential for improving male fertility.
Several studies have linked the consumption of maca root to improved sperm concentration per milliliter of semen. One study, in particular, took a sample size of 69 men struggling with low sperm counts and motility. After 12 weeks of maca use, the test group experienced an increased sperm count, though motility remained the same.
The only real challenge with maca root is consuming it properly, which is why most people opt for a maca root supplement powder. However, the root is edible and can be cooked as an accouterment to a standard dish. Once you have secured a method for consuming maca root, you should see improved sperm concentrations along with an increased sex drive.
#5: Moringa
Moringa oleifera, or moringa, is a plant like maca root but is indigenous to India rather than Peru. Despite the geographical differences between these plants, moringa has become a more commonly employed fertility supplement for men. While moringa does offer other health benefits, its use in treating infertility has made it a more beloved plant than most and can offer benefits beyond internal issues.
While maca improves the human sex drive, moringa has been identified as a tool for countering the effects of erectile dysfunction. While erectile dysfunction is not a fertility issue per se, it does prevent you from engaging in sexual intercourse and impregnating your partner.
While moringa has the potential to correct erectile dysfunction, it also plays a significant role in improving sperm production by correcting oxidative damage. Oxidative damage is known to interfere with the production of sperm. Sometimes, this can extend to the sperm and damage the DNA stored within. Without DNA, a sperm is no longer viable and cannot fertilize an egg. Moringa is a powerful antioxidant that can help correct this oxidative damage and restore sperm production.
Another similarity with maca root is that most people opt for a moringa powder supplement rather than eating the plant itself, especially since moringa has a less stable position in modern cuisine and is primarily a medicinal herb.
#6: Tomatoes
Yet another form of produce, tomatoes are one of the healthiest additions you can make to your diet. This fruit has become extremely popular in modern cuisine and remains one of the most versatile. Tomatoes are full of vitamins that are essential to the healthy development of our bodies, but some of their nutrients have additional benefits that are worthy of note. Namely, tomatoes are a source of lycopene. Lycopene is a plant nutrient that gives tomatoes their red color, but it also has antioxidant properties and can assist with enhancing male fertility levels.
Lycopene consumption has been directly linked to improved sperm count and motility in men, making tomato consumption highly beneficial to fertility. Men taking 4 mg of lycopene daily, roughly the amount inherent in a medium-sized tomato, showed sperm counts of 22,000,000 per milliliter of semen. Those sperm also showed a 25% improvement in motility and a 10% improvement in morphology. Given the various use of tomatoes in modern cuisine, introducing them to your diet should be fairly simple.
#7: Garlic
If you have a penchant for Italian food, you have likely already consumed a fair bit of garlic in your lifetime. Garlic is a beloved vegetable that is good for more than seasoning food or, per Bram Stoker, repelling vampires. Garlic is rich in essential vitamins and nutrients that make it an excellent addition to your diet, though it might not receive much love from your partner given garlic's effect on our breath. However, the truly fascinating thing about garlic is that some of the nutrients in the plant have shown potential as fertility boosters.
Garlic contains significant amounts of vitamin C, B6, and selenium and possesses powerful antioxidant effects. Even early studies suggest garlic might be able to protect sperm from being damaged by chemotherapy treatments. While garlic might seem unlikely to contribute to male fertility levels, it has begun to rise among fertility supplements.
#8: Walnuts
Nuts are one of the most popular snack foods in the world, but some offer more than a tasty treat. Many different nuts offer nutrients important to human health, including the beloved walnut. Walnuts are one of the most expensive and nutritious on the market, packing high levels of protein and vitamins that promote healthy bodies. The nutrients in walnuts include omega-3, making walnuts one of the non-seafood-based sources of this fatty acid. This means walnuts can offer the benefits of omega-3 to those opposed to fish consumption. While the omega-3 content of walnuts is beneficial to fertility levels, they also contain another substance that is also very important to male fertility.
This second substance is folate, also known as folic acid, which is present in most nuts and leafy greens. Folate plays a significant role in general health but also serves as an essential part of fertility in men. Folate contributes to a process known as spermatogenesis, the process by which the body produces viable sperm. Low folate levels can cause sperm to be created without DNA or lack essential morphological traits. You can overcome the shortages responsible for improper sperm production by consuming walnuts for their folate content.
Keep it All Natural!
Infertility can be a terrifying prospect, especially if it has interfered with your intention to have children. Despite the disappointment and fear that an infertility diagnosis can create, not every diagnosis is permanent. More often than not, infertility results from a health issue that can be corrected rather than genuine sterility.
The foods discussed here are extremely beneficial for those who have reversible infertility by reinforcing these important compounds in your body. Unfortunately, not every item mentioned in this article is best consumed conventionally. Plants like maca and moringa are not ideally consumed in their natural state and are best used in supplement form. Omega-3 fatty acids, while naturally occurring in fish and certain produce, can also be used in supplement form to maximize the benefit.
However, the challenge with supplements is finding products that can be trusted and purchased easily. We at Bella All Natural, while not food vendors, can help with your supplement needs. We offer specially designed fertility kits for men and women that include multiple supplements to enhance your base fertility levels. Our kit for men contains supplements for omega-3, moringa, and maca root to ensure all the important nutrients each substance offers can be made available to you.
We believe that the best way to improve health and beauty is to use natural compounds to reinforce the amazing capabilities of the human body. Regarding improving fertility levels in men, we maintain that principle and created our Hombre Fértil kit to match it. So, if you are dealing with infertility, we urge you to visit our website and see if our fertility kit seems right for you. Regardless of your decision, remember always to keep it All Natural!
