The Laurence A. Jacobs M.D. Blog

Half of all cases of infertility are due to male factor, and recent news articles and research have put male fertility back in the spotlight.

The good news is that unlike women who are born with all of the eggs they will ever have, men continue to produce sperm. So what a man does now can improve his fertility two to three months from now.

Diet, lifestyle and nutritional supplements — all can affect a man's fertility. These factors can also affect a couple's chances at a successful in vitro fertilization (IVF). A recent Brazilian study of 250 men who were undergoing IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) published in the journal Fertility and Sterility found that the chances of a successful IVF increase if men have diet high in fruit and grains, and low in red meat, alcohol and coffee. The men's weight and diet had an effect on sperm concentration and motility (how well sperm swim).

Recently, I filmed two videos on unexplained fertility for FertilityAuthority: What Is Unexplained Infertility and How Is Unexplained Infertility Treated? Because unexplained infertility is a very frustrating diagnosis for couples — the fertility doctor is basically saying that he or she can find no defined reason why you’re not achieving a pregnancy — it merits further discussion here.

Read my first blog on FertilityAuthority about sexual frequency and increased pregnancy rates.

Previous preimplantation genetics testing methods, using PGS/PGD techniques, have only allowed for the evaluation of 9 to 12 chromosomes out of a total of 23 chromosome pairs in the human embryo cell. Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH) and MicroArray solve this problem by evaluating all 23 chromosome pairs, allowing completely screened normal embryos to be identified and transferred or frozen. Due to our long-standing relationships with ReproGenetics (www.Reprogenetics.com  ) and the Center for Preimplantation Genetics (www.PGDCenter.com ), and Gene Security Network (www.genesecurity.net) as well as our excellent day 5 blastocyst culture methods and embryo freezing (vitrification) techniques, FCI is one of only a handful of IVF programs world-wide able to offer this major breakthrough.