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Effect of nut consumption on semen quality and functionality in healthy males

Effect of nut consumption on semen quality and functionality in a cohort of healthy males

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ISRCTN
Registry ID
ISRCTN12857940
Enrollment
118
Registered
2016-05-25
Start date
2015-12-02
Completion date
Unknown
Last updated
2025-09-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Semen quality and functionality Other

Interventions

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups for 14 weeks: 1. Continue to consume their usual diet supplemented with 60 g/day of a mixture of raw nuts. 2. Continue to consu

Sponsors

INC International Nut and Dried Fruit Council Foundation (Spain)
Lead Sponsor

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
Male

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Healthy males 2. 18-35 years old 3. Reported a western-style diet

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Frequent consumption of nuts or a known history of allergy 2. Use of plant sterol or fish oil supplements and multivitamins, vitamin E or other antioxidant supplements 3. History of reproductive disorders or vasectomy 4. Current smokers 5. Taking antioxidant supplements or medications for chronic illness 6. Use of illegal drugs

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
Improvement of sperm vitality and motility. Semen samples will be collected at baseline and the end of the intervention period. All men will be instructed to abstain for 3 days prior to providing the study specimen, with abstinence period verified by self-report on day of sample collection. Semen samples will be collected allowing analysis within 60 min of sample production. A single researcher, who was blinded as to intervention versus control group status, will perform the conventional semen analyses. For the rest of analysis aliquots of semen will be frozen at -196ºC until analysis.

Secondary

MeasureTime frame
Semen samples will be collected at baseline and the end of the intervention period: 1. Other conventional semen parameters 2. Plasma lipid profile, glucose and insulin concentrations 3. Serum folic acid and alpha-linolenic concentrations 4. Sperm DNA fragmentation 5. Sperm ROS evaluation 6. Sperm miRNA expression profiles 7. Sperm DNA methylation 8. Sperm chromosome stability

Countries

Spain

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Mar 5, 2026