IMPACT OF DIET ON SPERM OXIDATION-REDUCTION POTENTIAL

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to investigate the impact of the diet on sperm oxidation-reduction potential. Since the male contribution to the fertility of a couple is crucial, it is of high importance to determine the dietary factors that can affect male fertility. This study was based on semen analyses of 20 males including 10 males who do not eat pork meat and 10 males with no diet restriction who consume pork meat et least three times per week. The age of the men ranged from 25 to 49 years. The main exclusion criteria were smoking and obesity. All participants followed a period of 3–5 days of sexual abstinence. All specimens were analyzed within 1 hour of collection. The oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) was measured using novel galvanostat-based technology—the MiOXSYS System (Aytu BioScience, Inc.). Briefly, 30 μL of liquefied semen at room temperature was applied to the MiOXSYS sensor. Both absolute ORP (mV) and normalized sORP values (mV/106 sperm/ml) based on sperm concentration were calculated. Each sample was measured in duplicate. All variables were analyzed by IBM SPSS version 24 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Differences with p ≤0.05 were considered statistically significant. Descriptive statistics between the two investigated groups showed the significant difference was in sORP (mV/106 sperm/mL) values, where the group which does not consume pork meat showed a lower range compared to males without diet restriction [0.43 (0.6-0.74) vs 1.52 (0.64-2.81) respectively, p<0.001]. Our study showed that the participants which did not consume pork meat had decreased ORP levels. Many studies previously confirm the negative impact of Trans fatty acids, or milk products milk, on sperm parameters. However, to confirm our preliminary findings further studies including larger cohorts are warranted.