title: The association between dietary antioxidant intake and semen quality in infertile men.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oxidative stress is detrimental to semen quality and has a significant role in the etiology of malesubfertility.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dietary intake of antioxidants were compared between thirty two men with oligolastheno/ teratazoospermic(cases) and 32 normospermic volunteers (controls) attending fertility clinic in Mirza Koochak-khanHospital in Tehran, Iran. All participants were nonsmokers and matched according their age and Body MassIndex (BMI). Nutrient consumption was calculated using a semi- quantitative food frequency questionnaire.Semen samples were collected and were assessed by measuring volume, concentration, motility and morphology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  infertile subjects had a significantly lower intake of zinc and folate compare to control ones(p<0.001). Dietary intake of vitamin C and E was lower than recommended values in 59.4% of case group thatwas significantly different from control ones (p<0.05). In control group, 36.4 and 40.9% of participants had insufficientdietary intake of vitamin C and E, respectively. Significant correlations were found between folate(r=0.5, p<0.001), zinc (r=0.6, p<0.001) and percentage of motility and also between vitamin E and morphology(r=0.3, p=0.03), zinc and concentration (r=0.4, p=0.004) in all participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  summary, a low intake of folate, zinc, and vitamin E were related to poor sperm concentrationand motility.
authors.affiliation: PhD., Assistant Professor, Nutritionist, Department of Nutrition, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran. azadnajarzadeh@ssu.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Azadeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nadjarzadeh
authors.affiliation: MD., Professor, Urologist, Urology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. mehrsai@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Abdolrasoul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehrsai
authors.affiliation: PhD., Assistant Professor, Biochemist, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Eb_mostafavi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mostafavi
authors.affiliation: PhD., Associate Professor, statistician, Department of Statistics & Mathematics, Hospital Management Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. mgohari@iums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Mahmood Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Gohari
authors.affiliation: PhD., Professor, Nutritionist, Department of Nutrition, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. arzadshidfar@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Farzad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shidfar
keywords: Dietary antioxidant; Male infertility; Oligasthenoteratozoospermia