Vitamin C to Increase Fertility

Can It Enhance Male Fertility?

Yes! Research has shown that it can.

A man with a vitamin C deficiency has shown to contribute to low sperm count, low sperm mobility and sperm agglutination. Sperm agglutination is the process by which sperm clumps together. When sperm cells are clumped together, they cannot swim properly and have a hard time making it to the egg.

For sperm to fertilize an egg, it has to reach the egg. This journey relies on the female's cervical fluid and partly on the man's semen. Vitamin C can help the healthy sperm swim to the eggs through the semen and cervical fluid to the waiting egg.

Vitamin C has also been shown to reduce the occurrence of abnormal or defective sperm. This has been proven especially true in smokers. Of course quitting smoking is the best thing for a couple trying to conceive.

Foods rich in Vitamin C

Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid, which is a water-soluble vitamin that is essential for normal functioning of the body. Unlike most mammals, humans don't have the ability to make their own vitamin C. We must therefore obtain vitamin C through our diet.

A minimum intake of 1000 mg/day was required to completely saturate the blood plasma with vitamin C. They also found that vitamin C should be taken in divided doses throughout the day as urinary excretion increases rapidly when individual doses exceed 500 mg.

Most of us think of citrus fruits as being the best source of vitamin C. You'd get 60 mg/day from about 3/4 cup of orange juice
Here are some of the food that contain Vitamin C, says Robyn Webb in an article to the Diabetes Forecast:

- Drinking 3/4 cup of orange juice provides 60mg of vitamin C
- Eat more broccoli. A 1/2-cup serving provides 45 mg of vitamin C.
- Add a slice of tomato to your sandwiches. A small tomato provides 25 mg of vitamin C.
- Slice up a papaya or mango for dessert. Half a medium papaya or mango provides 95 mg of vitamin C.
- Think peppers! Red, yellow, and orange peppers have about twice the vitamin C of green peppers.
- More obscure vegetables, like kohlrabi and jicama, provide about 45 mg of vitamin C per half cup. Just grate each into a green salad.
- Believe it or not, potatoes contain vitamin C, too! A small baked potato has 25 mg.
- Kiwi fruit, the fuzzy little brown fruit with the deep green interior, has about 55 mg of vitamin C.

Eat up and load up on some more vitamin C to enhance fertility!