What You Need To Know About Supplements For Male Fertility.

You're listening to Don't Tell Me To Relax. The award-winning No Nonsense Always Friendly, Down to Earth Fatility Podcast. I'm Hannah, a fatility acupuncturist and big believer that fatility care and education should be better. Each week I sit down with a guest to share real stories, advice and honest conversations to help you feel better informed and for care and connection we have our Don't Tell Me To Relax online fatility community and our clinics in London and across the UK. To find out more about getting involved and working with us the details are in the show notes. Welcome to our many May series. Each week this month we will be taking a closer look at all aspects of male fatility. This series will end with a live Q&A with male fatility expert Claire Mooney from Fatility Solutions. You can send in questions and join us live. The link with further details is on the end of the show. Don't Tell Me To Relax is proudly sponsored by the lovely people at Acupyps. Acupyps is the original airseed company founded by acupuncturist Zoe Young. Airseeds are tiny seeds or metal beads attached to an adhesive and placed on pressure points in the air. They're brilliant for calming the mind, easing anxiety and restoring balance. We use them in our clinics all the time. Head to acupyps.com to find out more and use the code Relax for 20% off. Welcome to today's episode. This is our last in the series of men in May. And today we are with the lovely fertility nutritionist, Kirsty Harrison. And we are going to be talking about male fatility supplements because it is an area where we get lots and lots of questions. We've had lots of questions on DMs and through the community. So we thought we'd get Kirsty in to give her expert advice in this often overwhelming topic. So Kirsty, I'm just looking at your boo picture and your on your left corner and it I'm a bit jealous. I've not seen that before. That's that for a long time. I love it. How are you and thanks for coming to join us. Thank you very much for having me on this very hot day. So let's start right at the beginning Kirsty. What are supplements doing? Like why do people and men in particular get recommended to take supplements for their fertility? So I think generally men are doing what we do when we're trying to take supplements. I think they're trying to improve several role parameters. But generally it's a little bit more complicated I think when it comes to men there is a not more things to take into consideration. But they're looking to reduce the oxidative damage that occurs to the sperm cells as they're being produced. So when we talk about oxidative damage and oxidative stress what is that? That's going to be the damage to the genetic material inside the sperm cells and that's going to impact motility, it's going to impact morphology, it's going to reduce the chances of fertilisation and implantation. So we're looking at making sure that we protect the cells from that damage. But you also we do need a certain amount of reactive oxidative species for the sperm to do what it needs to do. So you don't want to sort of wipe it out completely which is why we have to be really careful with supplementing when we don't need it. Okay we hear about this a lot about too many supplements not enough supplements. So what are the biggest mistakes you see when men are taking fertility supplements? Well firstly you can't out supplement a poor diet like if you're not doing the basics right then the supplements aren't really touched the side. Also it can be very easy to take on board too many antioxidants with men because we are told that you want anti-oxidants, you want to mop up that free radical damage that's being caused but we just don't want too much. So I quite often see people taking a whole host of different cocktail and of supplements that in actual fact could be doing more harm than good. Even though the intentions of I like they're trying to do the right thing and we're trying to do the right thing but they're just taking two men. And so how would you know that you're taking too many? Would there be any signs or symptoms or how do you get that information so you know the right level to take? Well this is what's always tricky and this you're doing a huge broad amount of general testing. It's going to be very difficult to know whether you're taking on too many antioxidants or not. But if you know you've got sperm health issues to begin with then working with someone who can help you supplement properly is definitely going to be a better idea than trying to do it yourself and trying to manage it yourself. Yeah okay we hear about vitamin C, vitamin D, L-arge routine and probably saying that wrong zinc you know there's a whole host of things that people say are good for sperm health but what are the ones that actually have this the good amount of robust scientific evidence behind them? Yeah so we would be looking at lots of knowledge. A lot of the ones that you have mentioned there. So your bit canal has some really good research behind it. There's improving sperm concentration, motility and morphology and mitochondrial health because you know what sperm have to do requires a lot of energy and that doesn't mean mitochondria need a lot of support. Antioxidants vitamin C, vitamin E, really good robust support behind them. Zinc obviously really important. I'm pho-late which I think people often assume is largely a female nutrient and zinc pho-late is really important for men as well. I mean the three fatty acids are again very important for helping reduce the inflammation, absolute support, nutrient absorption. I think another one that's also really important to look at is vitamin D because whilst it's not sort of an antioxidant as such and vitamin D deficiency is really you know quite really quite common and can in sperm health as well but I also wouldn't necessarily go in and supplement all of those things without some understanding of what is driving the sperm issues in the first place. For example you can't take supplements like taking supplements is not runoffix and barricassia and it's not runoffix and infection it's not runoff and fix an underlying and sort of more structural type issue but yeah you certainly something says that we definitely to consider but you need to go in a bit more carefully with that. Yeah okay yeah that's that's a good thing to think about are there certain supplements that are good for certain sperm issues so following on from that so for example are there ones that are better for motility ones that are better for morphology count that kind of thing. Yeah different different nutrients definitely support different outcomes for sure. For example co-cutaneous pretty or rounder zinc and folate could be more to help support count but also zinc particularly is really important in testosterone production as well so that's another thing to take into consideration antioxidant is really good potentially for reducing DNA damage but it's again you've got to look I think you've got to look at the big picture and look at all the other other factors that could be contributing as well and make sure that you're addressing those. So a lot of the brands that are out there are all in one so for example I spoke to somebody yesterday on a discovery call who had been told by her GP that her partner should go away and take imprille for three months and come back and retest his sperm and I thought oh that's quite interesting isn't it because do we even know he needs imprille and what is in imprille and it seems to be one that's generally kind of mass blanketed prescribed for lots of sperm health but and it's got lots and lots of ingredients in and lots of them have so how do you know that that is a good one to take or how do you know if you waste in your money. Well this is the million dollar question isn't it it's really complicated of course really you want to look at what is actually genetically relevant whether you're even getting the doses or that version of the hormone in the overall supplement that you're taking and you know whether there is a fuller amount of research around certain nutrients but again in the combinations that we're getting them in over the counter are they relevant and I do think that that's a bit of a cop out just saying go and take imprille for three months and then come back because have they discussed underlying factors with him like is his nutrition to him point is he overly stressed as he sleek and properly houses exercise like there's other things there's a lot of other things that should be taken as consideration before we can for a general supplement and I do think there's probably not as many male maltees we are more limited for male preconception supplements at the moment I think more than we are for women there are some really good options around but it's difficult to have a blanket yeah one size fits all yeah go and take this for three months come back and see what happened also three months has been long time to be taking something without adjusting any of the underlying factors I guess there's there has to be an understanding of why you're taking what you're taking and so do you generally in your clinic think it's better to take one that has got lots of ingredients in or is it better to take individual separate supplements that are more specific to each person well I would say someone came to see me I would want potentially want some testing as well. So if we became with I see an analysis and potentially a DNA recommendation test. I quite often would run a hormone panel as well, because I think that's quite often overlooked in men. And I see a lot of men that haven't had that, or even like nutrient testing, like Vitamin D, folate B12, ferritin, all that thyroid panel. And then I would tend to be a bit more targeted with the nutrients that I use, depending what the requirements are, rather than going in with a blanket naughty. Yeah. And if somebody's listening to this, let's say they're at the beginning of their fertility journey, and they've done a few investigations and everything's come back all right. Do you think there is an hour? And let's say the semen analysis is all right so far, like they've done one test. Do you think people should just take a supplement anyway, because why not? Or in that situation, would you say, you know, there's no need to, because there's no issue? Yeah. I would tend to not just blanket, take a supplement. I think we should not necessarily jump down that road, especially with men, where the damage can be, you know, you can take too many. And it's really difficult, though, to say, without going down the full case history to know what the diet's like. So I would look at nutrient efficiencies, whether their job is stressful, you know, whether they're exercising. There are quite a lot of other things I would probably look at. And so, before you even go down the road of supplementation, what are the key areas that you think people should think about before we sort of jump ahead and try and fix everything with a wounder supplement? Well, I'm always going to say diet, Hannah. Like, yes. They think that it's quite a lot of research to support the Mediterranean way of eating, for me and I'm female fertility. So really making sure that you cut out your ultra-processed food, you're cutting down on your processed meats, that you'd want to reduce your sugar intake, definitely reduce booze and smoke it and vaping and anything along those lines. Then I also think that things like sleep is really important. Testosterone is largely secreted during when you were asleep. So I think that sleep is a big focus that I think often gets overlooked. Stress is a big role as well, like it does with everything. We as we know, we can't just not be stressed. And exercise, I think, needs to be addressed as well and the type could exercise in the, whether it's a cycle for hours and hours or whether it's really high intensity or I think those things need to be addressed. And if there is areas, then you could, that you think of this person's diet isn't great and we're working on that. Then the blankets, that can't be really useful then, just fill some gaps whilst you're working on everything else. So because I know people will ask this, what would you recommend? What would be your go-to sort of general male fertility supplement? I really like the overhin. Yeah. I also, Gene, G, male fertility. I used to use the cytopram, but I think that might have just recently been discontinued. They're the sort of go-to ones that overhin is a nice one that is a good blanket, why I would say. Yeah. And so one other thing that comes up a lot is this idea about supplementing with protein and protein shakes and putting things into kind of smoothies to kind of bulk them up. Like, is that a good thing or not? I think largely protein shakes would use properly can be really beneficial. At all, I think we do need a lot of protein, a lot more than we're getting. I think the quality of the protein is really good and what we need to be careful with, particularly, with those sort of more cheap nasty proteins, is the things they put in them that could be therefore impacting your testosterone production. And also things like pre-work as well and very highly caffeinated drinks have to have a lot of herbs and things in them as well that could be impacting your overall health. And what I don't think protein is bad in itself, I think the quality of the protein has to be really, really good and you need to be really mindful of the ingredients that are in there that could be impacting your overall health. So have you got some good ones that you recommend because again, this is just so many, how do you choose a good protein to add to your shakes? So I tend to think the organic protein company is quite nice. New dust or form nutrition are quite nice brands. You want to get a really nice, untrated one with like zero added ingredients, maybe a bit of threadering or whatever, but you really just want to be mindful of all the added ingredients and sort of more cheap, more body-building type ones, more sort of, if you're like the Jim Bro type ones, really need to be avoided because they're not great. I also think you need to be really careful buying them from places like Amazon where they have quite often been found to be counterfeit, same as supplements, which you'll find things on Amazon because they're not quite often testing a shame that they're counterfeit and then you don't know what you're putting in. So I think that's important. - Yeah. - Okay, yeah, so not on Amazon, check the ingredients. - Things like creatine, I think is perfectly fine. You can keep all that kind of stuff in. Yeah, it's more the sort of contamination and additives and things and sports protein powders that you need to be careful of. - Yeah. And what about, because we started the program just talking about oxidative stress. So there is actually a test that you can do for oxidative stress. So do you recommend that before people start taking loads of antioxidants, so that's a much better investigation to do because then inform you what you need to take? - Yeah, I do think that the test don't, a test don't guess is particularly important when it comes to my authenticity. Like I really do think that understanding what is going on and what could be driving the outcome. So testing is really, really useful because yeah, because as we discussed earlier, you can't go in between many antioxidants and do more harm and good. - Yeah, so I guess it's that because you know, I've been talking about it on Instagram this week, this notion that their one semen analysis is not enough to understand male fertility and that by asking questions and understanding lifestyle and doing some deeper work, even like you say, even if it's blood tests, a scan, semen analysis, nothing too crazy is gonna give you better information to start choosing your supplements than just blanket taking loads and loads that you've seen on the internet. - Yeah, and I think when we were at the fertility conference at the start of the year, it was so much, that's, it's more than just fertility now, isn't it? It's a mark of a male's overall long-term health. So I think it does make sense to spend a bit of time doing some thorough investigations and doing a bit of thorough digging and overhauling things before you go sort of crazily adding it into ventures that you may or may not need. - And also the thing about supplements is they're really, really expensive. - Really expensive. (laughing) - And now I know because I've just bought and I literally had a new one delivered just today, you know you get so easily influenced because you see something you're like, "Yeah, that sounds good, what's cellular growth?" And it's gonna like change my skin and my hair. They have such huge amount of sales behind them and marketing for a reason. And it's very easy to take loads of stuff that you just we out. - Yeah, we know that Mark II World blights to pound our insecurities and so on. - Yeah. - And that's very much what's happening and like you say, it's the yellow calf area, isn't it? As soon as you start looking, it's always there. - Yeah. (laughing) - Yeah, it's really difficult. But I do think we're testing and just do a bit of investigation firsthand is much, much more important than like really super beneficial. - For anyone listening today, let's say, what would be your three recommendations to look at putting supplements aside just to really help them think about good changes to make or how to look after their sperm health. What would be three top recommendations? - Overall your diet, take away anything that is going to be causing oxidative damage that you really don't need. So you want to take out your process foods, your nasty process meats, you want to be reducing your sugar, taking out those, all of that kind of stuff. You really want to be focusing on good quality sleep. Sleep is really important. And yeah, I think we supplement society and test get, get a same basic semen analysis to begin with, they can go from there, but also don't assume that that's enough because it isn't, but it is a good starting point. - And if there was one supplement, and this is a really hard question, I'm sorry that I'm asking this, but I'm going to do it anyway, Kirsty. If there was one supplement that you would say every man should be on, or that you university think we all need or not really. - There's a really difficult one because supplements do different things in different people. I would say vitamin D is probably really quite important that we should all get tested and be taking if we are deficient for sure, to make sure that we have adequate levels. But yeah, we'd and you know, omega-3 fatty acids can be really useful in most people. But even so, if they're in your diet pretty good, then I don't think this is necessarily we need to be checking out if supplements are not on there. No reason. - Okay, well, Kirsty Harrison, as always, that is fantastic. And I hope that there has been something helpful in there about supplements. If you have any questions following this, then obviously please reach out to myself because then I will forward it onto Kirsty. And if don't forget that we have our talk on Monday, the 1st of June with Claire Mooney from Fatility Solutions. So again, any questions you have about male Fatility Testing, there is still time to do that. get them in before we do that. So, Kirsty, thank you as always for your time. It's lovely to see you. Thank you for having me.