the association between dietary antioxidant intake and semen quality in infertile men

background: oxidative stress is detrimental to semen quality and has a significant role in the etiology of male subfertility. methods: dietary intake of antioxidants were compared between thirty two men with oligolastheno/ teratazoospermic (cases) and 32 normospermic volunteers (controls) attending fertility clinic in mirza koochak-khan hospital in tehran, iran. all participants were nonsmokers and matched according their age and body mass index (bmi). nutrient consumption was calculated using a semi- quantitative food frequency questionnaire. semen samples were collected and were assessed by measuring volume, concentration, motility and morphology. results: infertile subjects had a significantly lower intake of zinc and folate compare to control ones (p< 0.001). dietary intake of vitamin c and e was lower than recommended values in 59.4% of case group that was significantly different from control ones (p< 0.05). in control group, 36.4 and 40.9% of participants had insufficient dietary intake of vitamin c and e, respectively. significant correlations were found between folate (r=0.5, p< 0.001), zinc (r=0.6, p< 0.001) and percentage of motility and also between vitamin e and morphology (r=0.3, p=0.03), zinc and concentration (r=0.4, p=0.004) in all participants.  conclusion: in summary, a low intake of folate, zinc, and vitamin e were related to poor sperm concentration and motility.