| Are You Half The Man Your Father Was?It is a | | | | superoxide dismutase.Some amount of all the |
| well-known fact that sperm counts have dropped by | | | | antioxidant enzymes, which may protect |
| half in the last 50 years, and that modern men have | | | | spermatozoa from oxidative attack, are also made |
| 20 percent less semen volume than their fathers | | | | by the epididymis during storage.The glutathione |
| (BMJ, 1992, volume 305).A recent report from | | | | peroxidase/reductase enzymes play a central role in |
| researchers in Aberdeen presented preliminary data | | | | the defense against oxidative damage in human |
| that suggests the sperm concentration of the men | | | | sperm.Why is Glutathione important for Sperm |
| seen in their clinic had declined by 29% over the past | | | | Quality and Fertility?A decrease in levels of reduced |
| 14 years. (British Fertility Society; 5 January | | | | glutathione (GSH) during sperm production is known |
| 2004)Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and | | | | to disrupt the membrane integrity of spermatozoa |
| endocrine-disrupting chemicals from normal, everyday | | | | due to increased oxidative stress.Intracellular |
| plastics are known to cause reproductive damage, as | | | | glutathione levels of spermatozoa are known to be |
| documented in Theo Colborn's book "Our Stolen | | | | decreased in certain populations of infertile men. |
| Future."Damage to sperm caused by exposure to | | | | Compared with a control group, the infertile men in all |
| common chemicals like alcohol, pesticides in food, has | | | | groups had significantly higher levels of ROS and |
| been linked to lowered intelligence and behavioral | | | | lower levels of total antioxidants.There is strong |
| disorders in children.Lifestyle risk factors known to | | | | clinical evidence to show that men diagnosed with |
| decrease sperm quality include> Cigarette smoking> | | | | infertility have high levels of oxidative stress that |
| Alcohol consumption> Chronic stress> Nutritional | | | | may impair the quality of their sperm.In some groups, |
| deficiencies.Other reasons for infertility include | | | | higher levels of ROS were associated with lower |
| congenital factors, and health conditions like prostatitis | | | | sperm counts and defective sperm structure, while |
| and diabetes that can affect sperm | | | | lower antioxidant levels correlated with reduced |
| production.Pollution is stealing our future, and there's | | | | sperm movement.Previous evidence has also shown |
| little anyone can do to avoid it. There may not be a | | | | that oxidative stress can decrease a sperm's life |
| lot you can do to reduce your exposure to | | | | span, its motility, and its ability to penetrate the |
| persistent environmental toxins.But there are definite | | | | oocyst, or egg cell.Up to 40% of men with |
| measures you can take to reduce the impact of the | | | | unexplained male infertility have higher levels of free |
| environmental pollutants and toxins on your body.You | | | | radical activity in their bodies.Because men with high |
| can prevent and, to a certain extent, repair the | | | | levels of ROS have a seven-fold lower likelihood of |
| damage they cause to your body, through a better | | | | inducing a pregnancy than men with lower levels, |
| lifestyle and nutrition.Some nutritional therapies and | | | | researchers recommend that treatment for infertile |
| antioxidants that have proven beneficial in treating | | | | men should include strategies to reduce oxidative |
| male infertility and improving sperm counts, sperm | | | | stress and improve sperm quality.How can |
| morphology and motility include:> Carnitine> Arginine> | | | | Glutathione help in the Treatment of |
| Zinc> Selenium> Vitamin B-12> Vitamin C> Vitamin E> | | | | Infertility?Glutathione is not only vital to sperm |
| Glutathione> Coenzyme Q10Studies show that | | | | antioxidant defenses, but selenium and glutathione |
| anti-oxidant supplementation - glutathione in particular | | | | are essential to the formation of "phospholipid |
| - can improve sperm quality, and possibly increase | | | | hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase" - an enzyme |
| your chances of conceiving.If you smoke, drink, are | | | | present in spermatids - which becomes a structural |
| exposed to stress, chemicals, radiation, pesticides or | | | | protein in the mid-piece of mature |
| take medication or drugs (like sulfasalazine, | | | | spermatozoa.When either substance is deficient, it |
| ketoconazole, azulfidine, anabolic steroids, marijuana) | | | | can lead to instability of the mid-piece of the |
| that affect fertility, you should consider taking an | | | | spermatozoa, resulting in defective motility.Free |
| antioxidant supplement to reverse some of the | | | | radical scavengers - such as glutathione - that restore |
| damage.Why are Antioxidants Important for Sperm | | | | the structure and function of poly-unsaturated fatty |
| Quality?Mammalian spermatozoa are coated by a | | | | acids (PUFA) in the cell membrane, can be used to |
| membrane rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. These | | | | treat these cases.In a double-blind cross-over study |
| fatty acids are extremely susceptible to oxidative | | | | of twenty infertile men, treatment with glutathione |
| damage by free radicals or Reactive Oxygen Species | | | | led to a statistically significant improvement of the |
| (ROS) by a process called lipid peroxidation (LPO).Lipid | | | | sperm quality.The study concerned men in whom the |
| peroxidation damages the sperm cell membrane. It is | | | | sperm quality was poor due to unilateral varicocele or |
| considered to be the key mechanism of ROS-induced | | | | germ-free genital tract inflammation - two conditions |
| sperm damage and leads to> Loss of sperm motility> | | | | in which ROS or other toxic compounds are indicated |
| Abnormal sperm morphology> Reduced capacity for | | | | as causative factors.Treatment with glutathione was |
| oocyte penetration> InfertilityTo protect sperm from | | | | also found to have a statistically significantly positive |
| damage, the body depends on powerful antioxidant | | | | effect on sperm motility (in particular forward |
| enzymes in the body such as superoxide dismutase | | | | motility) and on sperm morphology.The findings of |
| (SOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase | | | | these studies indicate that glutathione therapy could |
| reductase (GPX/GRD).Seminal plasma and | | | | represent a possible therapeutical tool in cases where |
| spermatozoa have several antioxidant enzymes - | | | | ROS or exposure to toxins is the probable cause of |
| glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, | | | | infertility. |