Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health looked at lifestyle factors among 150 male infertility patients at Massachusetts General Hospital. They found that men who ate between one and three servings of processed meats a week (including bacon, sausages and some burger patties) had inferior quality sperm than those who ate the fewest servings.
Meanwhile, their fish-eating counterparts – particularly those who ate white fish such as cod or halibut – possessed the highest quality sperm, while men who chose fattier fish like salmon or tuna, displayed a 34 per cent higher sperm count.
“We found the effect of processed meat intake lowered (sperm) quality and fish raised quality,” lead author Myriam Afeiche, research fellow in the HSPH Department of Nutrition, told the Daily Mail.
Another study found a link between fitness levels – in particular, resistance and weight training – to higher sperm counts in men, with the only fitness activity that served to decrease sperm count being bicycle riding, according to the HSPH Department of Nutrition.
Additionally, alcohol and caffeine consumption were found to have no negative effects on sperm despite previous studies into the correlation between the two
