Research carried out by investigators from the Institut de Recerca Biomèdica Catalunya Sud (IRB CatSud), the CIBER CIBERobn network (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de la Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición) and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) has focused, within the framework of a study published in the scientific journal Andrology, on diet quality in relation to sperm quality. The study concluded that men who regularly consume nuts have better sperm quality.
The study worked with a sample of up to 222 healthy men aged between 18 and 40 years who were participants in the international project called Led-Fertyl. This was a cross-sectional study focused on dietary and lifestyle factors related to semen quality. To analyse the relationship between nut consumption and sperm quality, the researchers collected detailed information on the participants’ eating habits through validated nutritional questionnaires and compared it with the results of their semen analyses, the clinical test used to assess parameters such as sperm concentration, count, and motility.
Participants with a higher consumption of nuts were less likely to show abnormalities in sperm motility, one of the factors that may affect male fertility. More specifically, the research team points out that men who consumed one portion per day were 75% less likely to present sperm motility problems and had a 69% lower risk of having any abnormality in their semen analysis.
Study reference
Dávila-Córdova E, Babio N, Valle-Hita C, Fernández de la Puente M, Beltran-Arasa A, Cebrián-Puig M, Fambuena-Perez V, García-Serrano I, Murphy MM, Salas-Salvadó J, Salas-Huetos A. Nut Consumption and Sperm Quality in Healthy Men: Results From the Led-Fertyl Study. Andrology. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1111/andr.70204
A study led by URV also concludes that there is still insufficient evidence to confirm that this diet improves the outcomes of assisted reproductive treatments
Infertility affects one in six adults worldwide and has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a public health issue. Several studies conducted on men in developed countries have raised concerns about a decline in semen quality, potentially linked to unhealthy lifestyle habits. Stress, smoking, alcohol consumption, drug use, and poor dietary choices are among the main risk factors associated with reduced sperm quality.
The analysis encompassed 11 original studies involving a total of 2,558 men, examining the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet—rich in fruits, vegetables, olive oil, fish, nuts, and whole grains—semen quality, and/or various fertility parameters.
The findings revealed that men who closely followed this dietary pattern had a higher sperm count, with improved total and progressive motility, as well as a greater proportion of sperm with normal morphology. These results were observed both in healthy individuals and in patients attending fertility clinics.
However, the authors caution that, although semen quality was superior among participants with greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet, there is still no conclusive evidence that this diet directly enhances outcomes in medically assisted reproduction.
“While the Mediterranean diet appears to have a positive effect on semen quality, further research is needed to determine its actual impact on male fertility,” the research team noted.
The study’s findings form part of Rashmi Agarwal’s doctoral thesis, supervised by Albert Salas-Huetos, lecturer at URV; Nancy Babio, associate professor at the university; and Jordi Salas-Salvadó, professor and head of the Food, Nutrition, Development and Mental Health research group at URV, the Institut Sanitari Pere Virgili (IISPV), and CIBERobn at the Instituto de Salud Carlos III.
Bibliographic reference: Agarwal R, Salas-Salvadó J, Davila-Cordova E, Shyam S, Fernàndez de la Pont M, Azurmendi M, Bavi N, and Salas-Huetos A. Mediterranean diet, semen quality and medically assisted reproductive outcomes in the male population. 2025; 100454. doi: 10.1016/j.advnut.2025.100454