Almonds boost male fertility: Eating seven nuts a day could improve a man’s sperm count and quality

Eating seven nuts a day could improve a man’s sperm count and quality, say Italian doctors.

They are testing the theory in a trial of 100 men being treated for infertility at a hospital in Turin.

One group will add seven nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds or peanuts) to their normal diet; another group will reduce their intake of saturated fat by cutting down on processed meat and dairy products, and increase the amount of polyunsaturated fats, from foods such as oily fish and seeds.

The team at Azienda Ospedaliera Citta della Salute e della Scienza di Torino believe both strategies may improve fertility, as polyunsaturated fatty acids have been shown to have a number of effects that help, including reducing inflammation.

Thirty per cent of people with restless legs syndrome – which causes uncomfortable sensations in the legs eased only by moving – also had migraine without aura, compared with 12.8 per cent in a control group in a study by the Universidad Complutense, Madrid.

The brain chemical dopamine may explain the link. Dopamine is involved in movement and when patients with restless legs are given drugs that boost dopamine levels, their symptoms can improve. Dopamine has also been implicated in migraine. Iron deficiency has also been linked to restless legs as well as migraine – iron is required to produce dopamine.

Breath test cuts asthma symptoms
A ten-second breath test has been shown to halve the number of asthma attacks suffered by patients.

The test, which has just been recommended for the NHS, uses a handheld device to measure how much nitric oxide the patient exhales. This indicates how inflamed the airways are and so can help determine the medicine – and dose – a patient needs.

In a Swedish study of 187 patients, those whose treatment was adjusted according to their nitric oxide reading had fewer asthma attacks.

Another trial found 24 per cent of children given the test also had fewer episodes of symptoms such as wheezing, compared with 48 per cent of the children in a control group.

Respiratory specialists are urging doctors and nurses to test asthma patients’ nitric oxide levels.

Written for The Daily Mail, August 11, 2014.

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