Amazon.com lists over 8,000 items under the search term "fertility"

Carnitine Supplement Helps Sperm Swim

Catherine McDiarmid-Watt | Tuesday, April 30, 2013 | 0 comments

egg + sperm = eraserhead, by M Anina / Marioanima, on Flickr
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Taking carnitine supplements seems to improve sperm mobility in men with poorly active sperm, a problem known as asthenozoospermia, Italian researchers report.

However, for carnitine to work, tiny structures within the cell called mitochondria must function properly.

Mitochondria are important because they provide the energy needed for sperm to move their tail and "swim."

Senior investigator Dr. Carlo Foresta told Reuters Health that "it is well known that in some asthenozoospermic subjects an improvement of sperm (motion occurs) after carnitine administration...However in other asthenozoospermic patients this effect is not present."

To investigate further, Foresta of the University of Padua and colleagues studied 30 asthenozoospermic men divided into two groups depending on whether they had normal or abnormal mitochondria function.

The researchers' findings appear in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility.

In patients with normal mitochondria function, movement rose from 29.3 percent before treatment to 41.1 percent after 3 months of carnitine.

However, in those with abnormal function, movement held steady at about 24 percent.

Thus, Foresta concluded that carnitine treatment is useful "in ameliorating sperm motility only when optimal...mitochondrial function ... is conserved."

SOURCE: Fertility and Sterility 2005.

Photo credit: egg + sperm = eraserhead,
by M Anina / Marioanima, on Flickr
Some rights reserved



TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
Image: Acupuncture and IVF: Increase IVF Success by 40-60%, by Lifang Liang. Publisher: Blue Poppy Press (August 2003)-
Acupuncture and IVF: Increase IVF Success by 40-60%
by Lifang Liang

-- The information in this book can increase your success rate with in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technologies (ART) by as much as 60%.

Research has shown that acupuncture alone can increase the success rate of IVF by 35%. By also adding Chinese herbal medicine, it is Dr. Lifang Liangs experience that you can almost double that increase.

In this book, Dr. Liang describes her extremely successful step-by-step protocols for combining acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine with IVF.

Whether you are a Western MD specializing in infertility, a Chinese medical practitioner, or a couple experiencing difficulties in conceiving, this book is sure to give you new hope and a new approach to dealing with this all too common and difficult condition.

Image: Buy Now on Amazon.comPaperback: 224 pages
Click to order/for more info: Acupuncture and IVF







Category: , ,

Catherine

About Catherine: I am mom to three grown sons, two grandchildren and two rescue dogs. After years of raising my boys as a single mom, I remarried a wonderful man who had never had a child of his own. Unexpectedly, I found myself pregnant at 49!
Sadly we lost that precious baby at 8 weeks, and decided to try again. Five more losses, turned down for donor egg, foster care and adoption due to my age and losses - we have accepted that there will be no more babies in our house.

Find Catherine on Google+ - Circle us on Google+ - Join us on Facebook - Follow us on Twitter

0 comments

WE LOVE COMMENTS!
Don't just sit there, reading this story or article - say something! Do you believe it? Do you think it is impossible? Do you wish it was you? Do you have a story to share (it might get published!)

NOTE: Comments are moderated - just to stop the spambots - and so may take up to a few hours to be approved.

Catherine reserves the right to review, edit, refuse or delete any comment.

Popular Posts