# Joint and individual associations between multiple vitamins and sperm quality in adult men

## TL;DR

This study explores how different vitamin levels in men's blood relate to sperm quality, finding that some vitamins may improve fertility while others could have negative effects.

## Contribution

The study reveals a dose-dependent dual effect of vitamins on sperm quality and suggests personalized supplementation may be more effective.

## Key findings

- Higher levels of vitamin B1 and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 were associated with better sperm quality.
- Vitamin B12 was linked to increased DNA fragment index, while vitamin A was negatively associated with sperm motility.
- Most vitamin-sperm quality associations were not significant in the BKMR models.

## Abstract

Several studies have suggested that a healthy diet is associated with improved male fertility outcomes. However, the joint and individual associations between the status of multiple vitamins and sperm quality remain unclear.

This study aimed to investigate the associations between serum vitamin levels and sperm quality parameters in adult men.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 156 adult men seeking fertility care at a reproductive center from December 2023 to June 2024. Blood and semen were collected on the same day to determine the concentrations of nine kinds of vitamins (B1, B2, B6, B9, B12, C, A, D, E) and five parameters of sperm quality [total sperm number, sperm concentration, progressive motile sperm, morphologically normal rate, and DNA fragment index (DFI)]. The joint and individual associations between vitamin levels and sperm quality were analyzed using multiple linear regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models.

Increased tertiles of vitamin B1 and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25–(OH)2-D3] in serum were associated with higher sperm quality (all P for trends < 0.10). Compared with the lowest tertiles, the highest tertiles of vitamin B12 had β: 3.0 (95% CI: 0.8, 5.2) increasing in DFI, and vitamin A was negatively associated with progressive sperm motility (P for trends = 0.05). We generally found null results between multiple vitamin levels and the parameters of sperm quality in the BKMR models.

These research findings imply that vitamins could have a dose-dependent dual effect on sperm quality. More specifically, the impact of vitamins varies according to their dosage levels and types. Personalized vitamin supplementation may be more effective than taking multivitamins in improving sperm quality.