Couples who struggle to have a baby may be more likely to conceive if the man takes antioxidants, scientists say.
The finding emerged from a major review of medical studies into the impact of antioxidant supplements on couples being treated at fertility clinics.
A variety of antioxidants, including vitamin E, zinc and magnesium, appeared to improve couples’ chances of conceiving if the problem was known to lie with the man.
The Cochrane Library, which conducts “gold standard” systematic reviews of research, focused on 34 medical trials involving 2 876 couples. Most of the men in the trials either had low sperm counts or sperm that were poor swimmers. The couples had typically been trying to conceive for a year without success.
Only three trials looked at the effect of taking antioxidants on live birth rates, making the findings extremely tentative.
Across these trials, the number of women who gave birth to live babies rose from a mean of two for every 100 couples to nine for every 100 when the men took antioxidant supplements.
In the best-case scenario antioxidants improved live birth rates from two to 20 babies per 100 couples, but in the worst case they rose from two to 3,8.
The live birth rate with antioxidants was still very low compared to couples with no fertility issues. If 100 healthy couples tried to conceive for a year, the expected success rate would be about 80%.
The majority of studies looked at whether a man’s consumption of antioxidants improved pregnancy rates.
Taken together, these showed that the mean number of pregnancies rose from 3,1 to 11,8 per 100 couples when the man took antioxidants. — Guardian News & Media 2011