The Hoopla About Folate- You May Not Like Spinach But Your Sperm Do
By David Karabinus, Ph.D., HCLD
“Eat your vegetables” is an exhortation often heard in childhood that is frequently followed by the statement “Because they are good for you”. And it is true: vegetables are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals that are essential micronutrients for normal growth and maintenance. Recently there has been considerable attention paid to dietary supplements that can have a positive effect on reproductive potential. One such supplement is folate.
Folate is a water-soluble B vitamin (Vitamin B9) that occurs naturally in foods such as cereal grains, green leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, and lettuce, okra, fruits, legumes, yeast and numerous others. This vitamin is also available as a supplement in the form of folic acid. The nutritional importance of folate is illustrated by the publication of regulations by the FDA requiring the addition of folic acid to enriched breads, cereals, flours, corn meal and other grain products.
Folate plays an extremely important role in the production and maintenance of new cells, particularly during periods of rapid cell division and growth such as during pregnancy or infancy. It is crucial in organs characterized by rapid cell division because its role in DNA and RNA synthesis. The testis is an organ in which considerable cell division takes place since it produces millions of sperm every day. Because of this, one would expect folate intake to have an impact on reproductive function in general and testicular function in particular. Dietary folate deficiency results in reduced testicular and epididymal weight in lab animals; drugs that interfere with folate absorption or utilization can also adversely impact reproductive health. Chronic alcohol use has been shown to interfere with folate metabolism and result in reduced reproductive organ weights, reduced sperm production, and lowered reproductive hormone levels. Supplementation with folic acid has been shown to have mostly positive effects on human male reproductive parameters. Short term supplementation with 10 milligrams folic acid per day was shown to have no effect on sperm quality. Another study showed that men whose folate intake was low, moderate or high did not differ for seminal volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, or sperm motility. However, several studies have shown that longer term supplementation with folic acid alone or in combination with zinc have had positive results on sperm output, sperm motility, and normally shaped sperm. Likewise, men who had a high level (~1000 micrograms/day) of folate intake exhibited a reduced level of sperm containing chromosomal abnormalities.
The results of studies show that folate can have a positive effect on male reproductive health. However, it must be recognized that reduced or impaired male fertility can be a result of many individual or interacting causes for which there is no single ‘silver bullet’ cure. Meanwhile, please pass me another helping of green, leafy vegetables.
“Eat your vegetables” is an exhortation often heard in childhood that is frequently followed by the statement “Because they are good for you”. And it is true: vegetables are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals that are essential micronutrients for normal growth and maintenance. Recently there has been considerable attention paid to dietary supplements that can have a positive effect on reproductive potential. One such supplement is folate.
Folate is a water-soluble B vitamin (Vitamin B9) that occurs naturally in foods such as cereal grains, green leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, and lettuce, okra, fruits, legumes, yeast and numerous others. This vitamin is also available as a supplement in the form of folic acid. The nutritional importance of folate is illustrated by the publication of regulations by the FDA requiring the addition of folic acid to enriched breads, cereals, flours, corn meal and other grain products.
Folate plays an extremely important role in the production and maintenance of new cells, particularly during periods of rapid cell division and growth such as during pregnancy or infancy. It is crucial in organs characterized by rapid cell division because its role in DNA and RNA synthesis. The testis is an organ in which considerable cell division takes place since it produces millions of sperm every day. Because of this, one would expect folate intake to have an impact on reproductive function in general and testicular function in particular. Dietary folate deficiency results in reduced testicular and epididymal weight in lab animals; drugs that interfere with folate absorption or utilization can also adversely impact reproductive health. Chronic alcohol use has been shown to interfere with folate metabolism and result in reduced reproductive organ weights, reduced sperm production, and lowered reproductive hormone levels. Supplementation with folic acid has been shown to have mostly positive effects on human male reproductive parameters. Short term supplementation with 10 milligrams folic acid per day was shown to have no effect on sperm quality. Another study showed that men whose folate intake was low, moderate or high did not differ for seminal volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, or sperm motility. However, several studies have shown that longer term supplementation with folic acid alone or in combination with zinc have had positive results on sperm output, sperm motility, and normally shaped sperm. Likewise, men who had a high level (~1000 micrograms/day) of folate intake exhibited a reduced level of sperm containing chromosomal abnormalities.
The results of studies show that folate can have a positive effect on male reproductive health. However, it must be recognized that reduced or impaired male fertility can be a result of many individual or interacting causes for which there is no single ‘silver bullet’ cure. Meanwhile, please pass me another helping of green, leafy vegetables.
posted by Kathleen, Contributing Editor at
8:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home