Men may want to take folic acid supplements after a new study found that men with low levels of dietary folate have higher rates of abnormal sperm.
The study, which is published in the journal Human Reproduction, suggests that what men eat may affect their reproductive health.
Suzanne Young, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health, commented: "Recent studies have suggested that paternal diet affects sperm count and motility, which is important for conception, but this new study takes it further to say that male diet may be important for healthy offspring as well.
"Our study is the first to look at the effects of diet on chromosomal abnormalities in sperm," she continued.
"These abnormalities would cause either miscarriages or children with genetic syndromes if the sperm fertilised an egg."
Women of child-bearing age are already advised to take folic acid supplements as studies have shown that the vitamin reduces the risk of giving birth to a baby with a neural tube defect.
Men may want to take folic acid supplements after a new study found that men with low levels of dietary folate have higher rates of abnormal sperm.
