The relationship between major dietary patterns and fertility status in iranian men: a case–control study

Abstract

In this case–control study, we aimed to investigate the association between major dietary patterns and fertility status in Iranian men. The study population included 400 newly diagnosed infertile men and 537 healthy individuals without a history of infertility in Yazd, Iran. Infertility was confirmed clinically, based on the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Dietary intake was assessed using a 168-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and dietary patterns were determined based on a principal component analysis. Four major dietary patterns were found in this study, including healthy, Western, mixed, and traditional dietary patterns. After adjustments for potential confounders, men above the median of a healthy dietary pattern showed a reduced risk of infertility compared to those below the median (OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.33–0.83). In contrast, men with greater adherence to Western and mixed dietary patterns were more likely to be infertile (OR 2.66; 95% CI 1.70–4.17 and OR 2.82; 95% CI 1.75–4.56, respectively). Also, there was no significant association between the traditional dietary pattern and the odds of infertility. The present study suggests that greater adherence to a healthy dietary pattern may have an inverse association with the odds of infertility; however, Western and mixed dietary patterns may be associated with an increased risk of infertility.

Assessing the influence of preconception diet on male fertility: a systematic scoping review

“…The included studies comprised one RCT ( Yamamoto et al , 2017 ) and 36 observational studies; 14 prospective ( Chavarro et al , 2008 ; Vujkovic et al , 2009 ; Braga et al , 2012 ; Twigt et al , 2012 ; Afeiche et al , 2014a ; Afeiche et al , 2014b ; Minguez-Alarcon et al , 2015 ; Xia et al , 2015 , 2016 ; Oostingh et al , 2017 ; Gaskins et al , 2018 ; Hatch et al , 2018 ; Salas-Huetos et al , 2022a ; Salas-Huetos et al , 2022b ), 16 cross-sectional ( Attaman et al , 2012 ; Karayiannis et al , 2017 ; Danielewicz et al , 2018 ; Efrat et al , 2018 ; Jurewicz et al , 2018 ; Danielewicz et al , 2019 ; Ricci et al , 2019 , 2020 ; Shirani et al , 2020 ; Mitsunami et al , 2021a ; Mitsunami et al , 2021b ; Abdollahi et al , 2022 ; Leilami et al , 2022 ; Nouri et al , 2022a ; Nouri et al , 2022b ; Geller et al , 2023 ), and six case–control ( Mendiola et al , 2009 , 2010 ; Eslamian et al , 2015 , 2016 , 2017 ; Haeri et al , 2021 ) studies. Study characteristics are outlined in Supplementary Table S2 , with a summary of results (stratified by food groups/patterns) provided in Supplementary Table S3 .…”

“…+ve: higher chance of normal sperm concentration with adherence to healthy pattern ( Haeri et al , 2021 #91)…”

“…−ve: lower chance of normal sperm concentration with adherence to Western or mixed pattern ( Haeri et al , 2021 #91)…”

“…Nineteen studies examined whole diet patterns, which included eight a priori patterns: MedDiet, alternative Mediterranean diet (aMedDiet), Trichopoulou Mediterranean diet, Panagiotakos Mediterranean diet ( Karayiannis et al , 2017 ; Efrat et al , 2018 ; Ricci et al , 2019 ; Salas-Huetos et al , 2019 , Salas-Huetos et al , 2022b ), HEI, alternative HEI (aHEI) ( Efrat et al , 2018 ; Leilami et al , 2022 ; Salas-Huetos et al , 2022b ), DASH diet ( Efrat et al , 2018 ; Danielewicz et al , 2019 ; Salas-Huetos et al , 2022b ), American Heart Association diet ( Salas-Huetos et al , 2022b ), and seven posteriori patterns: ‘prudent’ or ‘healthy/health conscious’ diet ( Eslamian et al , 2016 ; Oostingh et al , 2017 ; Danielewicz et al , 2018 ; Jurewicz et al , 2018 ; Mitsunami et al , 2021b ), ‘traditional’ ( Vujkovic et al , 2009 ; Shirani et al , 2020 ; Haeri et al , 2021 ), ‘plant-based’ ( Nouri et al , 2022a ; Salas-Huetos et al , 2022b ), ‘antioxidant rich’ ( Mendiola et al , 2010 ; Eslamian et al , 2017 ), ‘empirical diet score’ ( Mitsunami et al , 2021a ), ‘preconception’ ( Twigt et al , 2012 ).…”

Anti-Inflammatory Diets in Fertility: An Evidence Review

“…A recent cross-sectional study by Nassan et al [ 176 ] examined dietary patterns and testicular function in 2935 young Danish men, reporting that higher adherence to Western dietary patterns displayed overall poorer sperm quality compared to consumption of a mostly vegetarian diet. Further, a case-control study of 937 Iranian men (400 newly diagnosed infertile and 537 healthy individuals with no history of infertility) stratified dietary patterns into healthy, Western, mixed, or traditional diet categories [ 177 ]. After adjustment for confounders, men with higher (above median) adherence to a healthy dietary pattern displayed reduced risks of infertility compared to those with poor adherence (OR: 0.52 [95% CI: 0.33, 0.83]).…”