Men with low sperm count who are indulging in self-medication by consuming carrot, pap and cucumber to boost their fertility are wasting time, health experts say. The experts note that for a man with low sperm count to be able to impregnate a woman, he must get proper medical examination and treatment from a specialist.
According to the World Health Organisation, estimates suggest that between 48 million couples and 186 million individuals live with infertility globally.
“In the male reproductive system, infertility is most commonly caused by problems in the ejection of semen, absence or low levels of sperm, or abnormal shape (morphology) and movement (motility) of the sperm”, says WHO.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH HealthWise, an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano State, Dr. Labaran Aliyu, said carrot and cucumber contain mainly vitamin C and, therefore, can’t improve fertility in men with low sperm count.
Aliyu said, “The consumption of cucumber, carrot and pap cannot improve fertility in men with low sperm count. The combination does not improve fertility just like that. Pap contains only carbohydrates. Carrot contains some vitamin C and also retinoic acid, which improves sight. And cucumber is nothing else than basically vitamin C and that is the main important thing in it.
“How can the combination and consumption of these foods improve fertility and enable a man with low sperm count to impregnate a woman? Vitamin C is the major thing in carrots and cucumbers and vitamin C does not improve sperm count.”
Different causes of low sperm count in men
According to the gynaecologist, there are different causes of low sperm count in men that require different medical interventions.
“Sometimes, the man produces enough sperm cells but then, there is no outlet for the sperm cells to come out and enter into the vagina of the woman because the seminal vesicles through which the sperm cells in the seminal fluid will pass are blocked. So, the man is producing sperm but he cannot pass it out.Aliyu, an Associate Professor, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Bayero University, Kano, explained, “Low sperm count has a lot of causes. It may be that the man is not producing the sperm cells from the testicles. That is a problem.
“These are issues that require different treatments. If the man is producing sperm cells and there is a blockage, the treatment is for the man to get an operation whereby the blockage is released because he is producing, only that there is a blockage.
“Now, if the low sperm count is due to insufficient protection from the testicles, then it requires a different treatment.”
According to Aliyu, a man whose testicles are not functional cannot impregnate a woman because he is not producing anything.
“If he should have sex with a woman, it is only the fluid that does not contain sperm cells that he is producing. In that respect, he cannot impregnate a woman.
“Also, in some men, the testicles that they have are not in the scrotum. Instead, they are in the inguinal region and that place is not optimum for the production spermatozoa . In that case, too, the man cannot impregnate a woman because he is not producing anything”, he noted.
Researchers in a 2018 study, published in Science Daily, say low sperm count is not just a problem for fertility but that it also has a link with other health issues.The gynaecologist urged men with low sperm count to come out and seek help instead of indulging in self-medication that could worsen their condition.
In the study which involved 5,177 male partners of infertile couples from Italy, the researchers affirmed that a man’s semen count is a marker of his general health.
The researchers found a 12-fold increased risk of hypogonadism, or low testosterone levels, in men with low sperm counts. Half the men with low testosterone had osteoporosis or low bone mass, a possible precursor to osteoporosis, as found on a bone density scan.
The study’s lead investigator and Associate Professor of Endocrinology at Italy’s University of Brescia, Dr. Alberto Ferlin, said, “Our study clearly shows that low sperm count by itself is associated with metabolic alterations, cardiovascular risk and low bone mass.
“Infertile men are likely to have important co-existing health problems or risk factors that can impair quality of life and shorten their lives.”
Ferlin, who is also president of the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine added, “Fertility evaluation gives men the unique opportunity for health assessment and disease prevention.”
source: Punch
