Male Infertility: Enzymes to Blame

There is an article on News-Medican by Sally Robertson, which discusses morphology issues in male sperm, among other things.  It is rather technical.  However, here is a quote and you can find the link to the full article below.

"An enzyme complex present in sperm plasma membranes plays an important role in the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress in sperm with abnormal morphology, researchers have shown."

Sperm-Egg

Here's the link to the full article.

My book, Five Strands of Hope, is available here on Amazon.  It is a memoir about my journey through secondary infertility through a horrendous triplet pregnancy.

Sperm Grown from Skin: Infertility Hope for Men

Wow!  That's all that I can say after reading an article from the Daily Mail (UK) about doctors/scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.  Scientists succeeded in using slivers human skin tissue to grow early-state sperm.  Thousands of infertile men may be able to fulfill their dream of fatherhood with their own biological children.

Male Sperm

The scientists use chemicals to turn back the biological clock in skin cells, which gives the cells chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells.  Then nutrients transform the cells into round ones and appear to be genetically normal.

Click here for the full article.


Five Strands of Hope on Amazon

Stress Kills Your Chances

Stress Kills Your Chances of Making a Baby

There is an interesting article in the Times of India website, which states that Stress is the leading cause for the rise in infertility.  This study's took place in India.  However, I believe, its findings are relevant across the cultures and continents.

Only a few years ago, women were solely blamed for infertility, because it was not diagnosed in men.  Doctors in India have concluded that the cause for infertility is roughly 1/3 men, 1/3 women and 1/3 men/women combination.

Dr Shreyas Padgaonkar, an IVF expert from Mumbai, India, expressed deep concern over the increasing obesity in young girls and exposure of rural men to pesticides. Dr. Padgaonkar said that very few women know that their bodies contain both the male and the female hormones. The fat that gets deposited in young girls stimulates an increase in production of estrogen which disturbs the hormonal balance.  This imbalance directly affects the ovulation cycle and causes an unpredictable menstruation cycle," he said.


Men in India who work in agriculture don't wear any protective gear.  These men have very low sperm count.  Men who work or live near heavy environmental pollution areas also have low sperm counts.  Dr. Padgaonkar said that even though there is very little research in this field, he believes that pesticides and pollution negatively affects the motility, count and functions of the sperm.

Here is the link to the full article.

My Book at Amazon: Five Strands of Hope

Here are links to previous blog posts: 

I'll Have Another

A Mother's Fears

The Strongest Women

The Loneliness of Having Triplets

What is the "Right" Number of Children to Have?

The Baby Making Project: IVF

Smoking's Bad

It's Not Your Lifestyle: Male Infertility

Grasping at Straws: Laptops Damage Sperm

The Holistic Approach to Infertility

Fresh vs Frozen Embryo Transfer

Premature Babies Twice as Likely to Suffer Mental Disorders

Does IVF Increased Your Breast Cancer Risk?

Here are links to chapter one of my book:

Chapter 1 (part 1)

Chapter 1 (part 2)

Grasping at Straws: Laptops Kill Sperm

Good morning!
Sometimes it seems to me that the "news" tries to hard to find interesting or scary news to grab our attention.  ABC news has a story suggesting that Wi-Fi internet access on laptops harms men's sperm.

The article on ABC's website has four paragraphs about the harm (electromagnetic waves) before it mentions an actual doctor who said the study is inclusive.

However, as already known in the medical community and those suffering from male-factor infertility, heat can kill sperm.  Long hot baths and sitting with a hot lap-top on your lap are not good for baby-making.

The link to the story is here.

Here are links to previous blog posts: 

I'll Have Another

A Mother's Fears

The Strongest Women

The Loneliness of Having Triplets

What is the "Right" Number of Children to Have?

The Baby Making Project: IVF

It's Not Your Lifestyle: Male Infertility

The Holistic Approach to Infertility

Fresh vs Frozen Embryo Transfer

No More Octomoms

Premature Babies Twice as Likely to Suffer Mental Disorders

Are You Having Twins?

Does IVF Increased Your Breast Cancer Risk?

Here are links to chapter one of my book:

Chapter 1 (part 1)

Chapter 1 (part 2)

My Book at Amazon: Five Strands of Hope

It's Not Your Lifestyle: Male Infertility

There is an interesting article published on the Irish Health website.  It sights a study out of the UK, which debunks the popular myth (perpetuated by doctors) that unhealthy lifestyles effects sperm.  We suffered from male-factor infertility and we believed that upgrading my husband's lifestyle would have a positive effect on his sperm.  My husband would run home from work (7+ miles), took multivitamins and lowered his alcohol intake.  These were all things that my doctor and a plethora of websites suggested to do to improve sperm health.

The new study found that men who ejaculated low numbers of swimming sperm were:

• 2.5 times more likely to have had testicular surgery
• twice as likely to be of black ethnicity
• 1.3 times more likely to be in manual work
• 1.3 not wear boxer shorts
• 1.3 not had a previous conception.

****The men's use of recreational drugs, tobacco and alcohol, as well as their weight measured by their body mass index (BMI), had little effect.

Here's the link to the full article.

Here are links to previous blog posts: 

I'll Have Another

A Mother's Fears

The Strongest Women

The Loneliness of Having Triplets

What is the "Right" Number of Children to Have?

The Baby Making Project: IVF

The Holistic Approach to Infertility

Fresh vs Frozen Embryo Transfer

No More Octomoms

Premature Babies Twice as Likely to Suffer Mental Disorders

Are You Having Twins?

Does IVF Increased Your Breast Cancer Risk?

Time to See a Fertility Specialist

Here are links to chapter one of my book:

Chapter 1 (part 1)

Chapter 1 (part 2)

Increase Your Chances of Conceiving

While age is a significant factor in infertility for men and women – for men, semen quantity and sperm quality decline sharply after age 45, according to a recent study – there is still a lot that couples can do to alleviate their stress and optimize their chances of conceiving, according to natural fertility expert Dr. Lorne Brown. "Diet, for example, can have a real effect on women’s reproductive hormones. Research based on the Harvard Nurses Study found that women who followed a whole food, low GI, mostly plant-based diet experienced a six-fold increase in fertility." (November 1, 2007, issue of "Obstetrics & Gynecology"
More on the Harvard School of Public Health study is HERE.


"Women aren’t the only ones affected by diet," says Brown. "A recent study has shown that men who ate a high fat diet had a reduced sperm count and concentration of about 40% compared to men who had less fat intake."

Recent research also shows that certain vitamins and supplements may enhance fertility. A study published in the Journal of Urology found that Co-enzyme Q10 supplementation resulted in a statistically significant improvement in certain semen parameters. And Co Q10 has been showed to rejuvenate eggs in female mice.

Another study has just shown that vitamin D levels may be a potent factor in fertility for men and women. Vitamin D is essential for the healthy development of each sperm’s nucleus. It also increases levels of the male sex hormone testosterone, improving a man’s libido, according to the review of several studies published in the "European Journal of Endocrinology."

HERE is the original press release regarding these findings.

If you'd like to buy my book, Five Strands of Hope, about my infertility and triplet pregnancy journey, please see the link to the right of this post.

Thank you,

Laura