Dear Health Conscious Reader,
I’ve just seen the research on one more thing you should know. Now, research shows that CoQ10 can improve a man’s sperm quality and sex drive.
Researchers in Italy divided infertile men into two groups. The ones who took just 200 mg a day of CoQ10 experienced significant improvement in sperm cell motility, the quality of the sperm cell.1
And it doubled the pregnancy rate over the men not taking CoQ10.
A number of studies have shown that, for the past 40 years, the quality and quantity of men’s sperm has decreased significantly.2 As your sperm count drops, so does your potency.
A major cause is the environment we live in. Chemicals in everything from the pesticides used in your food to the plastic in your water bottles and food containers find their way into your bloodstream. These chemicals, known as xeno-estrogens, act like estrogen in your body.
The result is a hormonal imbalance that leaves your body with less testosterone and more estrogen.
Bottom line: You may not be as potent as you should be.
What should you do?
So far, we’ve seen the amazing things CoQ10 can do for certain types of cancer and congestive heart failure. I recommend you take 50 mg daily of CoQ10 of the ubiquinol form. It’s 8 times stronger than regular CoQ10, which means that 50 mg of ubiquinol CoQ10 is equal to 400 mg of regular CoQ10. Plus, it stays in the bloodstream longer than regular CoQ10.
Once you’ve got that down, try these other potency boosters:
Zinc – If you’re a man, and you like to have sex, you need zinc. This important mineral is involved in testosterone metabolism. It also plays a role in sperm formation. A study published in the journal Archives of Andrology found that men who took 60 mg of zinc more than doubled their sperm count. What’s more, testosterone levels also increased.3 You can find zinc at your health food store. Take 60 mg a day.
DIM – Diindolylmethane (DIM) is found in vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. It flushes excess estrogen out of your body, restoring your hormone levels back to normal. The more testosterone you have in relation to estrogen, the more potent – and virile—you’ll be. I recommend getting 100 mg of DIM a day.
Folate – In a study published in Human Reproduction, men with low levels of folate had a higher percentage of defective sperm, even though they were otherwise completely healthy.4 I usually get my male patients on 800 mcg per day, but you can go as high as 1,200 mcg to enhance the health and integrity of your sperm cell reserves.
Vitamin C – You’ll see this on a lot of lists. It’s also a powerful antioxidant critical for maintaining healthy sperm. It protects the sperm cell from DNA damage. In one study, men saw a huge increase in their sperm count over the course of just 7 days. Those that took 200 mg of vitamin C a day had a 112% increase in sperm count. And those who took 1,000 mg a day boosted their sperm count by 140%!5 I suggest you take at least 2,000 mg per day.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
- Fertil Steril. 2009 May;91(5):1785-92. Epub 2008 Apr 8. Coenzyme Q10 treatment in infertile men with idiopathic asthenozoospermia: a placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized trial.
- Giancarlo Balerci, et al. Coenzyme Q10 treatment in infertile men with idiopathic asthenozoospermia: a placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized trial. Fertil Steril 2009; 91: 1785-1792
- Netter A et al. Effect of zinc administration on plasma testosterone, dihydrotestosterone and sperm count. Arch Androl 1981; 7:69-73.
- Young et al. “The association of folate, zinc and antioxidant intake with sperm aneuploidy in healthy non-smoking men.” Human Reproduction. 2008. doi:10.1093/humrep/den036.
- Dawson EB et al. Effects of ascorbic acid on male fertility. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1987; 498: 312-23.