fertilization potential, decisions on how to improve sperm morphology remain difficult to address. Smoking, alcohol consumption, caffeine intake and drug use can affect fertility; however, a conclusive connection between these factors and sperm morphology has not been demonstrated. Furthermore, use of dietary supplements and vitamins has not been shown to directly affect sperm morphology. While...

2012;25(2) S Afr J Clin Nutr Motswagole BS, Senior Nutritionist, Centre of Excellence for Nutrition, North West University (Potchefstroom) Kruger HS, Professor of Nutrition, Centre of Excellence for Nutrition, North West University (Potchefstroom) Faber M, Senior Specialist Scientist, Nutritional Intervention Research Unit, Medical Research Council Monyeki KD, Specialist Scientist, Chronic Dise...

The short-term advantages of sexual reproduction are unclear, but the existence of groups that are capable of producing either meiotic or ameiotic eggs (cyclic parthenogenesis, CP) might indicate that short-term advantages to sex exist. Alternatively, CP might be an unstable transitory stage between asexuality and sex, or a phylogenetically favoured life cycle (i.e. clade selection). The extens...

OBJECTIVE To compare sperm characteristics among: patients undergoing infertility evaluation, patients with male factor infertility (MFI), healthy sperm donors, and men with proven fertility; to examine the overlap of sperm characteristics in all four of these groups; and to identify good discriminators of fertility versus infertility among sperm characteristics. DESIGN Retrospective study. ...