Building Better Swimmers: Foods for Healthy Sperm
It’s a dark and dangerous swim those sperm have to make to connect with an egg, so you should do what you can to make sure they’re as powerful as possible. While there are plenty of articles out there about women’s health — including SuperFoods for a stellar pregnancy — we’ve laid out a series of articles to help the man. They include:
Building Better Sperm: Cleaning Up Your Act – Easy ways to remove toxins from your environment.
Building Better Sperm: Use It Or Lose It! – How to get your physical health in top shape.
Building Better Swimmers: Nutrients for Healthy Sperm – The vitamins and minerals you need for those little guys to thrive.
This brings us to the last part of the series. If want to surround those sperm on their perilous journey with the most effective missile-defense system, then they need proper nutrition. While we’ve told you what those nutrients are, we haven’t said what foods contain those nutrients… until now.
Below is our list of foods for healthy sperm. There are certainly more items that could be included on this list, but it’s a great starting point.
Sources of glutathione
Asparagus
Avocados
Black pepper
Broccoli
Grapefruit
Oatmeal
Oranges
Peanut butter
Spinach
Walnuts
Watermelon
Sources of cysteine
Turkey, skinless breast
Chicken, skinless breast
Yogurt, always nonfat and preferably organic
Eggs, free-range if possible
Soy
Cold-water fish (such as sockeye salmon)
Whey protein
Red bell peppers
Oats
Garlic
Onions
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Wheat germ
Lycopene-rich foods
Tomato sauce, canned
Tomato juice
Watermelon
Stewed tomatoes, canned
Tomato paste
Ketchup
Pink grapefruit
Astaxanthin-rich foods
Crabs
Crayfish
Lobster
Krill
Salmon
Shrimp
Trout
Vitamin C-rich foods
Yellow bell pepper
Red bell pepper
Guava
Green bell pepper
Orange juice
Brussels sprouts
Strawberries
Papaya
Orange
Broccoli
Cantaloupe
Kiwi
Vitamin B12-rich foods
Clams
Mussels
Crab
Sardines
Salmon
Beef (grass-fed)
Nonfat yogurt
Egg
Sources of vitamin E (Alpha-tocopherol)
Sunflower seeds
Safflower seed oil
Olive oil
Wheat germ oil
Almonds
Peanuts
Wheat germ
Avocados
Spinach
Broccoli
Eggs
Kiwis
Vitamin E (Beta-tocopherol)
Corn oil
Wheat germ oil
Wheat germ
Vitamin E (Gamma-tocopherol)
Soybean oil
Corn oil
Canola oil
Peanuts
Peanut oil
Evening primrose oil
Walnuts
Pistachios
Pecans
Soybeans
Corn
Lima beans
Chickpeas
Northern beans
Green peas
Vitamin E (Delta-tocopherol)
Soybean oil
Safflower oil
Wheat germ oil
Walnuts
Pistachios
Soybeans
Vitamin E (Alpha-tocotrienol)
Palm oil
Almonds
Pistachios
Wheat germ
Barley
Oats
Brown rice
Vitamin E (Beta-tocotrienol)
Wheat germ oil
Wheat
Barley
Vitamin E (Gamma-tocotrienol)
Palm oil
Pistachios
Brown rice
Corn
Vitamin E (Delta-tocotrienol)
Palm oil
Sources of zinc
Oysters
Beef (grass-fed)
Crab, Dungeness
Turkey, dark meat
Sesame seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Chicken, dark meat
Nonfat yogurt
Chickpeas
Almonds
Milk
Sources of selenium
Oysters
Brazil nuts
Crab
Halibut
Salmon
Shiitake mushrooms
Shrimp
Turkey breast
Sunflower seeds
Brown rice
Egg
Walnuts
Sources of DHA
Salmon
Mussels
Albacore tuna
Sardines
Trout
Oysters
Arctic char
Herring
Sources of CoQ10:
Herring
Soybean oil
Canola oil
Rainbow trout
Peanuts, roasted
Sesame seeds
Pistachios
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Orange
Taurine-rich foods:
Eggs (free-range and high DHA)
Salmon
Beef (grass-fed)
Milk (nonfat organic)
Resveratrol-rich foods:
Blueberries
Cranberries
Mulberries
Peanut skins
Pistachios
Purple grapes
Purple grape juice
This article was excerpted from the book SuperFoodsRx for Pregnancy by Steven Pratt, M.D
