A team of researchers have investigated the effect of adding nuts to a Western style diet on epigenetic effects of sperm quality.
The epigenetic effects are expressed through DNA methylation, where methyl groups are added to DNA sequences, altering their activity without changing the actual sequence.
A range of lifestyle and environmental factors have been investigated in the search for the cause in the drop of human sperm fertility observed over the pasty 70years. Specific sperm DNA methylation signatures are associated with sperm quality.
The researchers took data from 72 young non-smoking adults from the FERTINUTS trial. In the assigned nut-eating group, the participants’ sperm was found to have significantly sperm count, viability, motility, and morphology. Additionally, alterations in 36 specific DNA methylation regions were observed compared to the control group, and hypermethylation was seen in 97.2% of them.
Albert Salas-Huetos, first author of the article stated that, “This work demonstrates that there are some sensitive regions of the sperm epigenome that respond to diet, and which can result in changes in sperm and in its ability to fertilise.”
Source: Science Daily
