Sperm is a Focus of Start-Ups Looking to Boost Fertility - Wall Street Journal Magazine

Dr. Peter N. Schlegel, James J. Colt Professor of Urology and Reproductive Medicine was recently interviewed by Fiorella Valdesolo of the Wall Street Journal Magazine on over-the-counter supplements for sperm health.  

...Peter Schlegel, a urologist at New York’s Weill Cornell Medicine, says that while there’s a progressive decline in sperm quality with age, fertility potential is relatively well-maintained. The increase is in the chance that their offspring will have conditions like autism and schizophrenia. “We used to think that increase in birth defects didn’t occur until men were 50 or 60, but now it’s clear that it starts at 40, and subtle changes even start as early as 25,” says Schlegel.

[Dr.]Schlegel and [former Weill Cornell Medicine male infertility fellow] Bobby Najari, [now] a urologist at NYU Langone Health, are skeptical, saying that the research around the use of supplements isn’t substantive. “Theoretically antioxidants should be fabulous to help protect sperm. Unfortunately almost every study that we’ve done to demonstrate whether they actually increase fertility potential has been negative,” says Schlegel, noting that the idea that supplements are protecting sperm from damage is often enough of an incentive for men. “It’s reasonable to take them,” Schlegel says, “we just don’t have proof that it helps.” The group that these supplements may be most helpful for, says Najari, are men who aren’t getting the nutrients they need from their diets. “But what I often see is the very health-conscious man is also the person who’s on these supplements when that’s probably not the person who needs it,” he adds.

Read the full story here.