Fertility checklist: This month male, next month female
If you are half of a couple intending to conceive, you may be aware of some considerations that you and your spouse should keep in mind to enhance fertility. However, there are a number of miscellaneous, little-known factors that affect fertility, which we list below, that affect sperm count and sperm motility.
Heavy metal exposure: If the sperm count is low (less than 10-20 million sperm per milliliter of ejaculate), one has to first consider the possibility of heavy metal exposure. Lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium are some of the common heavy metals that stay in the fat of your bone marrow, brain and other fat deposits long term. If you have had significant exposure then you are storing these metals, and their constant presence in your body depletes sperm. Make sure that your physician orders a heavy metal urine challenge, which is the only reliable way to test for the presence of metals. Your naturopathic physician will know about this test. Most other physicians have never learned much about heavy metal testing. If it is positive, you will be able to chelate out the heavy metals, and then expect improved fertility. Sperm are constantly created de novo. Unlike women and our eggs, you males usually get a second chance.
Exposure to other toxins: Certain prescription drugs, alcohol, marijuana, solvents and pesticides are known to kill sperm. Organic farmers have been found to have sperm counts significantly higher than conventional farmers who use pesticides.
Hormone-fed meat and dairy: You will want to avoid these. The conventional hormone fed meat and dairy (most of what is available outside of health food stores) is full of the female hormone estrogen, which is really bad for sperm.
Hot drinking water in plastic bottles: Don't leave your water in a plastic bottle on a hot car seat. The phthalates in the plastic leech into your drinking water, where they mimic estrogens. These plastic estrogens are really unhealthy for both men and women. See our October 2006 newsletter for further information.
Moderate cholesterol: Recently the conventional medical profession has launched a war against cholesterol, even to the extent of reducing normal cholesterol levels to dangerously low levels. Cholesterol has many necessary functions in the body, including the production of your steroid hormones, including testosterone. Without testosterone, you cannot make sperm. We are not recommending high cholesterol, but if your total cholesterol is in the vicinity of 190 to 210, you are most likely doing just fine. Check with your naturopathic physician regarding your total cholesterol, HDL to LDL ratio, etc.
Anti-sperm antibodies: If you have these, you have probably had an infection such as Chlamydia that can lead to these. A semen analysis or other male fertility test is in order, and then if low, a Chlamydia culture. Both partners would then need to be treated with antibiotics. More natural treatments are available to eliminate the anti-sperm antibodies.
Avoid tight underwear and pants. The scrotum needs to stay cool. Perhaps you have observed the different ways that men and women sit in public places. Whereas women often modestly keep their knees together, many young men in particular sit with their knees as far apart as possible. This is probably a survival-of-the-species type instinct for keeping sperm viable.
Nutrition: Yes sir, you too need nutrition as much as your wife. Good quality food is not some fluff-frivolity just for women. Here is what you must include to have decent and numerous sperm:
- Zinc - get this from pumpkin seeds especially and other seeds and nuts. Grab a handful every day for snacking.
- Antioxidants - Ascorbic acid, also known as vitamin C, is very high in semen. Get a high-quality, alkalinized form, such as Emergen-C, which is found in any health food store. Various flavors are available to please your discriminating palate. Otherwise, be sure and get plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits, either raw or lightly cooked, everyday.
- Arginine - This is an amino acid that is common in foods such as seeds, nuts and carob. You can also buy a supplement of 500 mg in your health food store. Several capsules per day, in accordance with your naturopathic doctor's recommendation for you personally is helpful for sperm count and sperm health and viability.
Herb of the Month: Stevia rebaudiana
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Stevia is a sweet-tasting plant that is over 100 times sweeter than sugar, yet does not show the health risks associated with sugar. You can now find stevia in most health food stores. The liquid drop form is most convenient, because the powder tends to get airborne quickly, and it is easy to get too much.
If you have a sweet tooth and you don't know about stevia, you have got to try this as soon as possible! As you know from reading our previous articles on the subject, sugar is one of the worst things you can put in your body. Nancy Appleton, PhD, made clear in her famous article "146 ways sugar ruins your health (with references)," [2] that every organ system in the body is damaged by sugar.
I have written previously on some practical ways to avoid sugar and eliminate cravings in my series of articles on taming the sweet tooth. Yet the artificial sweeteners are even worse, being tied to cancer and neurological disorders, among other problem.
Stevia, on the other hand, actually improves glucose tolerance, which makes it especially useful for diabetics, or anyone else struggling to keep their blood sugar under control.
It also has been shown to reduce blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic in hypertensive people. [3]
Use stevia as a sweetener for beverages if desired and for baked goods.
Lost your gallbladder? Here's what to do next
Last month we wrote about preventing gallbladder problems. But for many people that article came too late. Close to a million gallbladders are removed every year in the U.S., and if all goes well, we never think much about that lost organ again. Others have occasional pains or feelings of distension where the gallbladder used to be.
There are some "health experts" who recommend that people who have had their gallbladders surgically removed take ox bile as a supplement with every meal for the rest of their lives.
Such a recommendation shows a poor understanding of the function of the gallbladder, the liver, the bile duct network and the choledochal sphincter. So we do not recommend ox bile supplementation.
The bile does not have to be replaced, because the gallbladder does not make bile; rather the liver makes it, and the cholecystectomy patient (that is, the person who lost their gallbladder surgically) still has a functioning, perfectly intact liver. The gallbladder simply stores bile between meals, so that it can be available in a large single dose rather than a constant drip, in order to emulsify the fats in our food to enable digestion. When fat-containing food comes into the small intestine, the gallbladder squirts bile onto it. This breaks down the fat, so that the useful parts of it can be absorbed in the small intestine to make energy. The biliary ducts that carry bile from the liver to the small intestine are maintained intact, now bypassing the absent gallbladder. So the good news is the liver is still functioning, the bile is still flowing, and your fatty food gets digested. At this point the choledochal sphincter, which is the sphincter connecting the common bile duct to the duodenal portion of the small intestine, is acting somewhat like the gallbladder did. That is, it stays closed until fatty food is present in the duodenum, and then opens and drops bile onto that food when it is present.
If the fatty food is not getting digested, you will see that your stools tend to float. But if they're sinking, then you know the fat is getting digested and there's not much trapped gas, so that means digestion is happening. Unfortunately, sometimes people who no longer have a gallbladder sometimes begin to have painful spasms in the choledochal sphincter [3]. This is a problem that can be relieved by the measures discussed below.
So now that we can usually expect the choledochal sphincter to perform the role of the gallbladder, when the gallbladder is no longer present, what else needs to happen?
Fortunately, with most people, not much. There will be less bile now coming onto your fatty food all at once, but still a good amount. It is more useful in the long run to increase the quality rather than the quantity of that bile. Glycine and taurine are two amino acid supplements sold in health food stores that conjugate your bile acids and keep fat emulsification functioning in your body.
Also, since most people who lose their gallbladders have had cholesterol gallstones, you will want to consider thinning the bile, so that the cholesterol does not concentrate and form stones in the biliary tract (which are much more dangerous than stones in the gallbladder.) N-Acetyl Cysteine, which is a supplement that is available in health food stores, is the most helpful for thinning the bile.
Smaller, more frequent meals or more slowly eaten meals are also helpful for fat digestion. Remember that it is ideal to digest your dietary fats fully. High quality dietary fats have enormous and essential health benefits.
If you are experiencing pains where your gallbladder used to be, there are medicinal herbs that specifically help with spasms of the biliary tract. Even if you came through gallbladder surgery without any after effects, it is good to keep the bile flowing through its reengineered plumbing as optimally as possible. Here also medicinal herbs can help. Your naturopathic physician can prepare these for you with consideration for your overall health condition.
references
- Ho AM. Previous cholecystectomy and choledochal sphincter spasm after morphine sedation. Can J Anaesth. 2000 Jan;47(1):50-2.
- Appleton, Nancy 146 Ways Sugar Ruins Your Health.
- Hsieh MH et al. Efficacy and tolerability of oral stevioside in patients with mild essential hypertension: a two-year, randomized, placebo-controlled study.