Table of contents:
About 30% of difficult cases of pregnancy are affected by male fertility problems. Many things can cause men of reproductive age to be infertile, especially the free radicals you get from unhealthy food and air pollution that can damage sperm quality. Well, researchers believe that certain foods can reverse these negative effects. A number of studies report that the best types of foods for male fertility are those that are high in lycopene, an antioxidant that gives some fruits and vegetables the bright color.
How food and the environment damage male sperm
Sperm cells take about 75 days to grow and mature. Well, there are three important factors that become a concern when we talk about sperm quality, namely sperm count, shape, and movement. If there is only one abnormality of these three factors, the risk of a man being infertile or even infertile can increase.
Free radicals that you get from unhealthy foods and the environment in the long run can reduce sperm quality. The reason is, free radicals in the body are damaging to healthy cells, including sperm cells.
Damage caused by free radicals to sperm cells can disrupt the composition of the DNA, protein, and fat membranes of the sperm cells, disrupting the shape of the sperm and the movement or motility of the sperm. Long-term exposure to free radicals also shortens the lifespan of sperm cells. In fact, the sperm cell must have a perfect shape, be strong, and be able to swim fast in order to fertilize a female egg.
Foods for male fertility should be high in lycopene
In recent years, researchers have been competing to find various kinds of free radical scavengers. A large number of foodstuffs have been studied to obtain several substances that have the potential to act as antioxidants. One of the most researched ingredients is lycopene. This substance is one of the formers of carotenoids, which are known as pigments that give bright colors to vegetables and fruits.
Once in digestion, the body will absorb 20-30 percent of the total incoming lycopene, then spread to several parts of the body. One of the parts that mostly ration lycopene is the testes, where sperm is produced. Lycopene will react with free oxidants because of its relatively strong potency and more stable properties. In addition, researchers also found that this substance can boost the human immune system.
Lycopene is a compound that is only produced by plants. That is, humans must get lycopene from outside the body because a person's body does not produce it. This substance is considered cheap and easy to obtain because it is widely contained in several types of food that we encounter everyday. Lycopene is found in many brightly colored vegetables and fruits, including:
- Tomato
- Watermelon
- Guava
- Papaya
- Apricot
However, you cannot rely solely on lycopene intake to maintain a healthy reproductive system. Other things are also needed to reduce the risk of forming free radicals, including a healthy lifestyle, exercise and adequate rest, and managing stress.
x
