3.20.2008 9:28 AM

Folate Intake Linked to Healthy Sperm

New Study Shows That Men Should Be Taking Their Vitamins, Too

Photo: Nina Shannon / Istock

By Annie Bell Muzaurieta

Women who are pregnant or who are trying to become pregnant are commonly instructed to ingest folic acid because it helps prevent certain birth defects. But now men will have to watch their diets too. A new study shows a diet rich in folate, or folic acid, may help prevent the production of abnormal sperm. In addition, a man's folic acid intake may prevent children from having genetic abnormalities, according to a BBC News article.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley found a diet high in folate - found in leafy green vegetables, fruits, enriched grain products, and vitamin supplements - was linked to lower levels of sperm with the wrong number of chromosomes. The article says that up to 4 percent of sperm in a healthy man carry either too many or too few chromosomes - a condition known as aneuploidy - and the researchers found a link between folate intake and lower sperm aneuploidy.

While the researchers emphasized that they had shown only a link and had not yet proven folate's direct impact on sperm quality, extra greens in your diet can't hurt.

The CDC's website provides more information on folic acid.

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