PARIS: Eating nuts “significantly” boosted the number and health of spermin young men in a scientific trial, researchers said Wednesday.

The findings “support a beneficial role for chronic nut consumption insperm quality,” they said, but stressed the study participants were allhealthy, apparently fertile men.

The potential benefits of nuts for men struggling with fertility have yetto be probed.

For the study, researchers recruited 119 men aged 18-35, who they dividedinto two groups.

One group ate 60 grammes of almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts daily on top oftheir usual “western-style” diet, while the second group got no nuts.

After 14 weeks, the nut group “had significant improvements in their spermcount, vitality, motility (movement) and morphology (shape)” — allassociated with male fertility, said a statement.

“Moreover, the subjects in the nut group also showed a significantreduction in their levels of sperm DNA fragmentation, a parameter closelyassociated with male infertility.”

The results were consistent with sperm improvement observed in otherstudies that looked at diets rich in omega-3, antioxidants such as vitaminC and E, selenium and zinc, and folate.

Nuts are rich in many of these nutrients.

The study results were presented at a meeting of the European Society ofHuman Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona.

Does this mean that men hoping to conceive a child should add nuts to theirdiet?

“We can´t yet say that,” said study co-author Albert Salas-Huetos of theRovira i Virgili University in Spain.

“But evidence is accumulating in the literature that healthy lifestylechanges such as following a healthy dietary pattern might help conception– and of course, nuts are a key component of a Mediterranean healthy diet.”