Daily sex boosts quality of sperm, research finds

A STUDY has found that getting men with damaged sperm to ejaculate daily improved its quality when couples were undergoing IVF.

Researchers in Sydney studied 42 men with abnormal sperm structure whose partners had suffered repeated miscarriages or failed IVF attempts.

The men were told to ejaculate daily for seven days and these samples were compared with samples after three days of abstinence.

A total of 37 patients, or 88%, had less sperm damage, or DNA fragmentation, if they ejaculated daily than after three days of abstinence, the study found. The research was presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in Washington DC.

Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield and secretary of the British Fertility Society, said it was important to understand the “trade-off” between genetic damage to the sperm and quantity.

He said a rate of 30% to 40% damaged DNA in a man was likely to indicate infertility. However, he said: “If you can go from 30% to 20% that is quite a big shift and that should have implications for fertility.

“There is a trade-off between genetic damage and quantity, so when a couple is first trying to get pregnant a wait of two to three days is probably advisable.

“But if you are a guy who has high DNA damage and a decent sperm count, it is probably in your interest to ejaculate every day.”