An Australian scientist says a daily dose of sex is the best thing for producing healthy sperm and daily ejaculation works just as well.
Delegates at a fertility conference have heard that daily ejaculation or daily sex may be the best way to improve sperm quality and could boost the chances of getting pregnant.
Dr. David Greening from Sydney IVF says a study they have conducted suggests that for men with fertility problems, daily ejaculation for a week reduced the amount of DNA damage in sperm samples.
At the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam the Australian fertility specialist said in general advice for couples had been to have sex every two or three days but Dr. Greening an obstetrician and endrocrinologist says men seeking to become a father should have sex each day, or ejaculate daily, for a week before their partner ovulates in order to maximise sperm quality.
For the study 118 men whose sperm had a higher-than-normal level of DNA damage were recruited - before the test, on average 34% of the group's sperm was rated as damaged, meaning that it was classified as "poor" in quality - ranging on an individual basis from 15 to 98%.
The men were not given any drugs or told to make any changes to lifestyle but were asked to ejaculate daily for seven days, after which their sperm was examined again and it was found that the damage to the sperm fell on average to 26% placing it in the category of "fair" in quality.
However while fourth-fifths of the men saw an increase in sperm quality, and many of them moved into the "good" range and out of the "poor" or "fair" categories, one-fifth saw a decline in sperm quality.
Dr. Greening says the improvements were "substantial and statistically highly significant" and that daily ejaculation not only boosted sperm quality for most of the men, it also helped sperm motility, another big factor in successful fertilisation - even though the volume of semen declined.
Though the research did not examine whether the improvement in sperm quality led to better pregnancy rates, previous research has shown that sperm that is less damaged and more mobile has a better chance of leading to a healthy baby.