Male fertility

Let’s get into some learning about why men’s fertility rates are declining, and what you can do to help yourself (or the male in your life) to naturally and safely support it. We meet with couples frequently that are challenged by infertility. So often it’s women seeking help, but 50% of the equation is male fertility, so let’s dive into the nutritional tools for creating healthy offspring.

Some research has shown that the average sperm count dropped from 104 million to 49 million/ml, in a longevity study from 1973 - 2019. Sperm counts required to achieve fertility are considered to be over 40 million. This is a dramatic enough drop to be making headlines. Interestingly, the decline is higher in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and North America - Western countries.

Before we get into the “what to do” part, here are some of the reasons why infertility is declining at an alarming (but predicted) rate:

• increased exposure to hormone-disrupting plastics (we’re going to do a blog on plastic detox next month..)

• increasing alcohol and drug use (fixable)

• increased infection rates (chlamydia and gonorrhoea in particular) (preventable)

• diabetes (more on this soon)

• obesity (fixable)

• stress (fixable)

• cycling (fixable)

• insomnia and sleep deprivation (fixable)

• diet (highly processed food, preservatives and increased sugar) - (fixable)

• nutrient deficient diets (in particular, zinc) (testable and fixable)

• cellular oxidation (lifestyle and diet) (fixable)

  All of the above is a big clue to the rest of this article. What can we do? Plenty. At our clinic we love testing, because it gives absolutes, and we can track progress. If conception is on your horizon, there are some great tests we have access to that give insights into your current toxic load for example. We can also give you an easy nutrition programme to improve your nutrition, and test you for deficiencies. We can give you anti-oxidants, and help you with your sleep and stress. We can test you for pre-diabetes and help you turn this around. And we can provide you with guidance around getting help for addiction to alcohol and drugs, if these are issues for you.

  We are proud to say that we’ve helped make lots of babies, by implementing changes that have turned around a couple’s fertility prospects. It’s exciting work.

  If you want to optimise your opportunity for conception, and make it a healthy one, then make a time to talk with us.

  ask@healhealth.co.nz