Folic acid is no stranger to expectant fathers and mothers who want babies. The concept that women eat folic acid in preparation for pregnancy and prevent fetal neural tube malformations has been deeply rooted in people's hearts.
But here's the question: Do men also have to eat when they're trying to get pregnant?
There are many people on the Internet who recommend that men also take folic acid during pregnancy preparation, and there are some marketing numbers that depict folic acid supplementation during pregnancy as follows:
"Every morning when I wake up, my husband and wife feed each other a grain of folic acid, what a warm and ritualistic picture of pregnancy preparation..."
I have to say that the copywriting is still quite careful, although some abuse dogs.
But is it useful for men to eat folic acid in preparation for pregnancy?
In fact, this should be divided into two types of people.
1. People with normal semen quality
Both studies from the Netherlands and Iran showed that eating folic acid alone (5 mg per day) showed little significant improvement in sperm count, motility and malformation rates;
Therefore, normal men who eat folic acid in preparation for pregnancy have no benefits.
2. People whose semen quality is lower than normal standards
Studies from the Netherlands say that eating folic acid + zinc can increase sperm count;
But studies from Iran say the improvement is there, but not significant.
Seems a bit controversial isn't it?
So, in order to resolve the dispute, another group of scientists in Iran made a meta-analysis of the current literature on folic acid and semen quality.
The results show:
For people with lower than normal semen quality, taking folic acid alone (5 mg per day) can increase sperm concentration, but there is no improvement in sperm morphology and motility.
But have you ever wondered what is the concept of eating 5 mg of folic acid a day?
Common folic acid tablets, each tablet content is only 0.4 mg.
In other words, it takes about 13 capsules a day to have some effect.
This is not every morning to get up, you and your wife you a piece of me so harmonious and loving.
It's you one, I'm one...
Do you eat?
Therefore, from the current research, even if a large amount of folic acid is consumed, the benefits that men can get from it are not large.
Well, you say you don't believe in this evil: I think eating folic acid is useful, and it doesn't hurt to eat it, right?
So you resolutely decided to bump a handful of folic acid every day.
But if you eat such a large dose, will there really be no side effects?
Back in 2015, a team of scientists at McGill University in Canada thought of this problem.
So they tested men who ate 5 mg of folic acid a day and were trying to conceive for 6 months.
The results are frightening.
The first is that there is no improvement in semen quality (this conclusion is consistent with previous studies).
Further epigenetic tests found that the sperm in this group had abnormal methylation changes in genes associated with tumors and neurobehavior.
To put it bluntly: High-dose folic acid supplementation in men can even lead to genetic abnormalities in sperm, which may affect subsequent expression in the fertilized egg.
But abnormal gene expression doesn't necessarily affect offspring either, right?
Right...... Do you?
Okay, get the hammer. A group of German scientists experimented with folic acid supplementation with mice and their offspring in 2017 (of course, not with humans).
The results found that mice who consumed folic acid in large doses had a significant increase in the probability of cognitive and neurological dysfunction in their offspring.
That's a bit scary.
So, if you are a man and you are trying to conceive, if your semen quality is normal, there is no need to eat folic acid, because there is no difference between eating and not eating.
If your semen quality is not very good, eating folic acid in large doses seems to increase some sperm concentrations, but may lead to potential offspring risks.
So you say, do men still need to eat folic acid when they are trying to get pregnant?
The correct answer is: No! need! want!