Vasectomy reversal
I am hoping you can help restart my life. Six months ago, I had a 15-year-old vasectomy operation reversed. Sadly, a recent test showed no sperm are present. Is there any diet or supplement that can resurrect the production of sperm? I am vegetarian and have just celebrated my 48th birthday.
We will assume you do not drink any alcohol or smoke tobacco or cannabis, since all three are lethal for the production of sperm. It takes 120 days to make a healthy sperm and you should also be taking a good zinc supplement (50mg a day). This is the mineral that is most important for the manufacture of healthy sperm. It is also the one that is a common deficiency in couples who are trying to conceive.
Dr Marilyn Glenville is a qualified nutritionist and the chairman of Foresight - formerly the Association for Pre-Conceptual Care. She is also the author of Natural Solutions to Infertility (Piatkus, £10.99) and says since your vasectomy reversal has not been successful, you may like to consider a fertility technique called ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) where the sperm are injected directly into the nucleus of the egg to fertilise it.
She recommends that while you investigate this option, you start taking supplements of an amino acid called L-arginine, which has been shown to be present at high levels in the head portion of healthy sperm. A diet that lacks this important nutrient for even just a few days has, she says, been shown to adversely affect the proper maturation of sperm. Another amino acid called L-Taurine is important for healthy sperm. So, according to Dr Glenville, is L-carnitine, which has now been shown to dramatically increase sperm count.
*For details of Dr Marilyn Glenville’s clinics call 0990-329244.