A systematic review of the effect of oral antioxidants on male infertility - PubMed Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2010 Jun;20(6):711-23.
doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2010.03.008. Epub 2010 Mar 10.

A systematic review of the effect of oral antioxidants on male infertility

C Ross  1 , A Morriss, M Khairy, Y Khalaf, P Braude, A Coomarasamy, T El-Toukhy
Affiliations
Review

A systematic review of the effect of oral antioxidants on male infertility

C Ross et al. Reprod Biomed Online. 2010 Jun.

Abstract

The use of antioxidants in treatment of infertile men has been suggested, although the evidence base for this practice is unclear. A systematic review of randomized studies was conducted to evaluate the effects of oral antioxidants (vitamins C and E, zinc, selenium, folate, carnitine and carotenoids) on sperm quality and pregnancy rate in infertile men. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and CINAHL were searched for relevant trials published from respective database inception dates to May 2009. Study selection, quality appraisal and data extraction were performed independently and in duplicate. Seventeen randomized trials, including a total of 1665 men, were identified, which differed in the populations studied and type, dosage and duration of antioxidants used. Only two-thirds of the studies (11/17) reported using allocation concealment and three studies (18%) used intention-to-treat analysis. Despite the methodological and clinical heterogeneity, 14 of the 17 (82%) trials showed an improvement in either sperm quality or pregnancy rate after antioxidant therapy. Ten trials examined pregnancy rate and six showed a significant improvement after antioxidant therapy. The use of oral antioxidants in infertile men could improve sperm quality and pregnancy rates. Adequately powered robust trials of individual and combinations of antioxidants are needed to guide clinical practice.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources