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Associations of Fish Oil Supplement Use With Testicular Function in Young Men.

ABSTRACT: Importance:Many young men have poor semen quality, and the causes are often unknown. Supplement intake of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid has been found to improve semen quality among men with infertility, but the association with semen quality among healthy men is unknown. Objective:To determine if intake of ω-3 fatty acid supplements is associated with testicular function as measured by semen quality and reproductive hormone levels among healthy men. Design, Setting, and Participants:This cross-sectional study included young Danish men from the general population recruited between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2017, at compulsory examinations to determine their fitness for military service. Young unselected men were approached after the examination and invited to participate in a study of reproductive function, regardless of their fitness for military service. Data analysis was conducted from September 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019. Exposures:Intake of supplements, including fish oil, during the past 3 months. Main Outcomes and Measures:Semen quality, measured as volume, concentration, total sperm count, percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa, and motility, and serum reproductive hormone levels, measured as follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, free testosterone, and inhibin B levels. Results:Among 1679 young Danish men (median [interquartile range] age, 18.9 [18.7-19.4] years) recruited to participate, 98 men (5.8%) reported use of fish oil supplements during the past 3 months, of whom 53 (54.1%) reported intake on 60 or more days. After adjustment and compared with men with no supplement intake, men with fish oil supplement intake on fewer than 60 days had semen volume that was 0.38 (95% CI, -0.03 to 0.80) mL higher, and men with fish oil supplement intake on 60 or more days had semen volume that was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.15 to 1.12) mL higher (P for trend < .001). Similarly, testicular size in men with supplement intake on fewer than 60 days was 0.8 (95% CI, -0.2 to 1.9) mL larger and in men with fish oil supplement intake on 60 or more days was 1.5 (95% CI, 0.2 to 2.8) mL larger compared with men with no supplement intake (P for trend = .007). After adjustment, men with fish oil supplement intake had a 20% (95% CI, 9%-31%) lower follicle-stimulating hormone level and 16% (95% CI, 8%-24%) lower luteinizing hormone level compared with men with no supplement intake. There were no associations of intake of other supplements with measures of testicular function. Conclusions and Relevance:These findings suggest that intake of fish oil supplements was associated with better testicular function, which is less likely to be due to confounding by indication, as no associations of intake of other supplements with testicular function were found. This cross-sectional study did not examine the actual content of ω-3 fatty acids in the supplements; therefore, these findings need confirmation in well-designed randomized clinical trials among unselected men.

SUBMITTER: Jensen TK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6991322 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Importance:Diet may play a role in testicular function, but data on how adherence to different diet patterns influences human testicular function are scarce. Objective:To determine whether adherence to specific dietary patterns is associated with testicular function in young men. Design, Setting, and Participants:This cross-sectional study included 2935 young Danish men unselected regarding fertility status who were enrolled from April 1, 2008, through May 31, 2017. Data were analyzed from July 1, 2017, to January 30, 2019. Exposures:Dietary patterns identified with principal component analysis based on responses to a validated food frequency questionnaire. Main Outcomes and Measures:Standard semen quality assessment; serum concentrations of testosterone, free testosterone, estradiol, inhibin B, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and sex hormone-binding globulin; and testicular volume measured with ultrasonography. Results:Among the 2935 participants included in the analysis, median age was 19 (interquartile range, 19-20) years and 2290 (78.0%) had normal body mass index. The 4 dietary patterns identified included Western, prudent, open-sandwich (a traditional Danish eating pattern), and vegetarianlike. The greatest adherence to the prudent pattern was associated with the highest total sperm count (median, 167 [95% CI, 146-183] million), followed by adherence to vegetarianlike (median, 151 [95% CI, 134-168] million) and open-sandwich (median, 146 [95% CI, 131-163] million) patterns. Adherence to the Western pattern was associated with the lowest total sperm count (median, 122 [95% CI, 109-138] million), which was significantly lower than sperm count in the other 3 diet patterns. After adjusting for confounders, the median total sperm count for men in the highest quintile of adherence to the Western pattern was 26 million lower (95% CI, -42 to -9 million) than for men in the lowest quintile of adherence to this pattern. Conversely, the median total sperm count of men in the highest quintile of adherence to the prudent pattern was 43 million (95% CI, 23-63 million) higher than that of men in the lowest quintile. Men with the highest adherence to the Western pattern had a lower median ratio of inhibin B to follicle-stimulating hormone (-12 [95% CI, -20 to -3]) and higher median ratio of free testosterone to luteinizing hormone (10 [95% CI, 2-19]) compared with men with lowest adherence to this pattern. Conclusions and Relevance:In this cross-sectional study, adherence to generally healthy diet patterns was associated with better semen quality, with potentially more favorable fertility potential among adult men.

Project description:Beneficial effects of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 FAs) are generally well-known from epidemiological studies, but the various mechanisms of action are not completely clarified. Regulation of gene expression is one known mechanism of action, but only very limited data of regulated pathways in humans after n-3 FA supplementation are available. Up to now, no studies compared gene expression changes after n-3 FA supplementation between normolipidemic and dyslipidemic subjects. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of n-3 FA administration on whole genome expression profiles in the blood of normo- and dyslipidemic subjects. We conducted an intervention study with normo- and dyslipidemic men aged between 29 and 51 years, which were subdivided into four groups with a balanced age distribution and randomized to either six fish oil capsules per day providing 1.5 g docosahexaenoic acid and 1.0 g eicosapentaenoic acid or corn oil capsules rich in linoleic acid per day for a period of 12 weeks. Venous blood samples were collected at baseline as well as after 4 hours, 1 week and 12 weeks of supplementation. For each investigation time point, the samples of each group were pooled together to minimize inter-individual variability. All subjects have successfully completed the study, but for the microarray experiments, nine subject samples were excluded. Therefore, the microarray experiments are based on the following group characteristics: normolipidemic fish oil group (FO-N): pool of nine RNAs from normolipidemic subjects supplemented with fish oil; normolipidemic corn oil group (CO-N): pool of six RNAs from normolipidemic subjects supplemented with corn oil; dyslipidemic corn oil group (CO-D): pool of eight RNAs from dyslipidemic subjects supplemented with corn oil; dyslipidemic fish oil group (FO-D): pool of nine RNAs from dyslipidemic subjects supplemented with fish oil. The twenty normolipidemic and the twenty dyslipidemic subjects were subdivided into two groups. Thus, a total of four groups with ten men per group passed through the study. To realize a comparable mean age between groups, the formation of groups was performed by stratified allocation according to subject's age. The four study groups were randomly assigned to different study products by an uninvolved collaborator. Subjects ingested either six FO or six corn oil (CO) capsules per day for a period of twelve weeks. The daily n-3 PUFA intake via FO capsules was 2.7 g (1.14 g DHA and 1.56 g EPA). The predominant FA of the CO capsules was the omega-6 (n-6) PUFA linoleic acid (LA, 18:2n-6). Thus, the daily LA intake via CO capsules was 3.05 g LA. The subjects were instructed to ingest the capsules together with food, three in the morning and three in the evening, and to maintain their usual exercise and dietary habits throughout the intervention time. As an exception, at the first intervention day, all six capsules were ingested at the same time in the morning after a standardised breakfast. During each visit, fasting blood samples were collected by venepuncture. Additionally, participants completed a questionnaire to obtain information about changes in medication, dietary (e.g., changes in weekly fish intake, preferred fish dishes or species, respectively) and lifestyle habits (e.g., physical activity), as well as the tolerability of the capsules. This record summarizes the results of 16 microarrays. The samples originate from whole blood of normo- and dyslipidemic subjects supplemented with either fish oil or corn oil for 4 h, 1 week and 12 weeks. Microarrays were hybridized in a loop design with one common reference using a dye-swap approach.

Project description:BackgroundDietary fish oil (DFO) has been identified as a micronutrient supplement with the potential to improve musculoskeletal health in old age. Few data are available for effects of DFO on muscle contractility, despite the significant negative impact of muscle weakness on age-related health outcomes. Accordingly, the effects of a DFO intervention on the contractile function and proteomic profile of adult and aged in an animal model of aging were investigated.MethodsThis preliminary study evaluated 14 adult (8 months) and 12 aged (22 months) male, Sprague-Dawley rats consuming a DFO-supplemented diet or a control diet for 8 weeks (7 adult and 6 aged/dietary group). Animal weight, food intake and grip strength were assessed at the start and end of the FO intervention. In situ force and contractile properties were measured in the medial gastrocnemius muscle following the intervention and muscles were processed for 2-D gel electrophoresis and proteomic analysis via liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, confirmed by immunoblotting. Effects of age, diet and age x diet interaction were evaluated by 2-way ANOVA.ResultsA significant (P = 0.022) main effect for DFO to increase (~ 15%) muscle contractile force was observed, without changes in muscle mass. Proteomic analysis revealed a small number of proteins that differed across age and dietary groups at least 2-fold, most of which related to metabolism and oxidative stress. In seven of these proteins (creatine kinase, triosephosphate isomerase, pyruvate kinase, parvalbumin, beta-enolase, NADH dehydrogenase and Parkin7/DJ1), immunoblotting corroborated these findings. Parvalbumin showed only an effect of diet (increased with DFO) (P = 0.003). Significant age x diet interactions were observed in the other proteins, generally demonstrating increased expression in adult and decreased expression aged rats consuming DFO (all P > 0.011). However, correlational analyses revealed no significant associations between contractile parameters and protein abundances.ConclusionsResults of this preliminary study support the hypothesis that DFO can enhance musculoskeletal health in adult and aged muscles, given the observed improvement in contractile function. The fish oil supplement also alters protein expression in an age-specific manner, but the relationship between proteomic and contractile responses remains unclear. Further investigation to better understand the magnitude and mechanisms muscular effects of DFO in aged populations is warranted.

Project description:Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the form of vitamin and supplement use is increasingly prevalent in the United States. The interplay between CAM use and use of conventional medications is not well studied. We examined this issue in Old Order Amish (OOA), a population lacking several factors known to influence supplement use, whose culture and barriers to conventional medications may result in high rates of supplement use.We characterized the patterns of supplement use in OOA, including the extent to which CAM use aggregates in families, and assessed whether higher use of supplements is associated with lower medication use.We conducted a cross-sectional study of conventional medications and supplements in 2,372 adult Amish from the Lancaster County, PA, area. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Supplements were subcategorized as herbal vs vitamin/mineral supplements.Seventy-seven percent of all Amish adults reported current supplement use, whereas 22% reported medication use. Women used supplements more often and used more supplements than men, and familial aggregation of supplement use was stronger in family pairs involving women. Supplement use was associated with less medication use after controlling for age, sex, body mass index, and self-reported histories of hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.96, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.00; P=0.047). This association was driven primarily by use of herbal supplements (adjusted OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.89 to 0.99; P=0.025) as vitamin/mineral supplements were not associated with different use of medication (adjusted OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.09; P=0.8). In analyses limited to cardiovascular medications and cardiovascular supplements in participants with hyperlipidemia, hypertension, or diabetes, supplement use was not associated with conventional medication use.OAA, particularly women, take dietary supplements much more frequently than they use conventional medications. Use of herbal supplements is associated with less use of conventional medications, whereas vitamin/mineral supplement use is not.

Project description:Studies of potential adverse effects of traffic related air pollution (TRAP) on allergic disease have had mixed findings. Nutritional studies to examine whether fish oil supplementation may protect against development of allergic disease through their anti-inflammatory actions have also had mixed findings. Extremely few studies to date have considered whether air pollution and dietary factors such as fish oil intake may interact, which was the rationale for this study.We conducted a secondary analysis of the Childhood Asthma Prevention Study (CAPS) birth cohort, where children were randomised to fish oil supplementation or placebo from early life to age 5 years. We examined interactions between supplementation and TRAP (using weighted road density at place of residence as our measure of traffic related air pollution exposure) with allergic disease and lung function outcomes at age 5 and 8 years.Outcome information was available on approximately 400 children (~?70% of the original birth cohort). Statistically significant interactions between fish oil supplementation and TRAP were seen for house dust mite (HDM), inhalant and all-allergen skin prick tests (SPTs) and for HDM-specific interleukin-5 response at age 5. Adjusting for relevant confounders, relative risks (RRs) for positive HDM SPT were RR 1.74 (95% CI 1.22-2.48) per 100 m local road or 33.3 m of motorway within 50 m of the home for those randomised to the control group and 1.03 (0.76-1.41) for those randomised to receive the fish oil supplement. The risk differential was highest in an analysis restricted to those who did not change address between ages 5 and 8 years. In this sub-group, supplementation also protected against the effect of traffic exposure on pre-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio.Results suggest that fish oil supplementation may protect against pro-allergic sensitisation effects of TRAP exposure. Strengths of this analysis are that supplementation was randomised and independent of TRAP exposure, however, findings need to be confirmed in a larger experimental study with the interaction investigated as a primary hypothesis, potentially also exploring epigenetic mechanisms. More generally, studies of adverse health effects of air pollution may benefit from considering potential effect modification by diet and other factors.Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry. www.anzctr.org.au Registration: ACTRN12605000042640 , Date: 26th July 2005. Retrospectively registered, trial commenced prior to registry availability.

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Associations of Fish Oil Supplement Use With Testicular Function in Young Men.

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