Couples struggling to get pregnant might want to add a little more fish in their diet, a new study says.

Young men who take fish oil supplements appear to have better sperm quality and higher testosterone levels than those who don’t, as well as larger testicles, researchers report.

Better sperm count

Although it wasn’t tested as part of the study, all these male reproductive factors should lead to overall improved fertility in young men taking fish oil, said lead researcher Tina Kold Jensen, a professor of environmental medicine at the University of Southern Denmark.

“Because they have a better sperm count, as a group they would have a better chance of fertilising an egg,” Jensen said.

Fertility supplements haven’t always had a great track record.

For example, supplements containing zinc and folic acid don’t appear to boost male fertility despite their reputation, according to a study published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

And this latest study can’t prove a direct cause-and effect link between fish oil and the improvements in sperm counts and testosterone levels, much less an improvement in overall fertility, noted Albert Salas-Huetos, a postdoctoral researcher of male infertility at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City.

“With one observational study, it’s impossible to recommend fish oil to a general population,” said Salas-Huetos, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. “Well-designed randomised clinical trials are necessary to establish a causal relationship.”

A lot of omega-3

The study and editorial were published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

But there’s reason in the data to believe that the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil had a direct effect on sperm count and testosterone levels, Jensen argued.

Sperm cells contain a lot of omega-3 fatty acid, so it would make sense that increasing your intake would lead to healthier sperm, Jensen said.

The study involved nearly 1 700 young Danish men who reported for a compulsory medical examination between 2012 and 2017 to determine their fitness to serve in the military.

“They were healthy 18- or 19-year-old men with no diseases and no knowledge of their fertility,” Jensen said. The researchers offered the men $74 to complete an additional questionnaire and provide semen and blood samples.

About 6% of the men reported using fish oil supplements within the past three months, and half of those said they’d taken them 60 or more days during that period, researchers said.

Same effect in older men

These men had significantly higher semen volume and total sperm count, researchers found.

Interestingly, the study found no significant difference in sperm quality when they looked at men taking other sorts of daily supplements, Jensen said.

“The men who took multivitamins or B vitamins or C vitamin didn’t have the same effect,” Jensen said. “To me, that points to the fact that it could be the fish oil and not just the healthiness of the men or their healthier lifestyle.”

Jensen added that she would expect to see the same effect in older men taking fish oil supplements

Two previous clinical trials found that older men had better sperm counts after 14 weeks of eating nuts as a means of improving their omega-3 intake, Jensen said.

Jensen said she would definitely recommend taking fish oil supplements to try and improve male fertility.

Sperm quality declines

“It would be even better to eat more fish, to make sure you have a healthy diet with a lot of fish included,” Jensen said.

While he stopped short of a recommendation, Salas-Huetos said the new study is an important step in figuring out the factors that influence male fertility.

“As you know, human sperm quality has declined worldwide in the last 50 years,” Salas-Huetos said. “It’s really important to find the factors that are associated with human semen decline.”

Pollution, smoking, alcohol, lack of physical activity, stress and unhealthy diets have been associated with a decline in semen quality, Salas-Huetos said.

^{Image credit: iStock}

If you, like tons of other women around the world, are hell-bent on finally winning the weight loss battle in 2020 then you’re going to have to approach it more deliberately and with a tight strategy.

But first thing’s first: don’t beat yourself up for not staying the course last year. There’s nothing wrong with going right back to the start and taking it from there. As long as you’ve still got time and energy, you haven’t let yourself down yet.

And I don’t know about you, but there’s an extreme sense of newness in 2020 — it feels like the year that we’re all finally going to knuckle down, get our ducks in a row, our goals in order and finally win the wars we’ve been fighting in ourselves.

READ MORE: 9 Common Mistakes People Make When It Comes To Weight Loss, According To A Celeb Trainer

1/ Understand your why

2/ Set a realistic time frame

3/ Break your goals down into smaller ones

4/ Set yourself up for success

5/ Always track and measure your progress

6/ Put incentives in place

A total of 31 tests have concluded and there are no confirmed cases in Britain, government says.

There remains a controversy in scientific circles today regarding the value of lithium therapy in treating Alzheimer’s disease. Much of this stems from the fact that because the information gathered to date has been obtained using a multitude of differential approaches, conditions, formulations, timing and dosages of treatment, results are difficult to compare. In addition, continued treatments with high dosage of lithium render a number of serious adverse effects making this approach impracticable for long term treatments especially in the elderly.

Anyone who has ever hit the bathroom at Makro to emerge a new person has probably wondered (beyond “What is it about this place?”) whether pooping actually affects weight loss.

It’s a fair question. A nice, productive poo (I think you know what I’m talking about without me having to describe) can make you feel lighter and leaner and more comfortable in your jeans. Being “stuck” (a.k.a. constipated) makes you feel… the opposite. But is that lighter feeling after pooping real?

Turns out, it can be — but only a bit, says dietician Mitzi Dulan, author of The Pinterest Diet. “It’s actually fairly simple,” she says. “Depending on your size and how regular you are, your poo can vary from 450g to 1.8kg. It’s likely to be on the higher end if you haven’t pooped for a few days.”

Wait… how much does poo weigh?

If you’re thinking, “Four 1.8kg, seriously?!” I get it… that’s not exactly a small amount if you’re struggling to lose weight. But you have to remember that your poo is made up of some pretty heavy stuff: Specifically, it’s about 75 percent water, per UMass Memorial Healthcare, with the rest being composed of bacteria, mucous, dead blood cells, and duh, food remains.

READ MORE: 10 Ways To Make Yourself Poop First Thing In The Morning

That said, you have to think big picture here. Even 1.8kg isn’t a significant amount of weight at the end of the day, since the number on the scale will consistently swing up and down as your bowel movements do. In other words, when you’re backed up, your weight will increase a bit, and after you relieve yourself, it’ll drop.

Either way, pooping won’t affect your weight in any huge way — even if it does feel like you just dropped five kilos. That amazing feeling is more about de-bloating than actual loss of body mass. Sorry!

Oh, tell me more about weight loss versus de-bloating.

Bloating is that awful, uncomfortable, full feeling that strikes when your digestive system has trapped air or gas inside it, and it can be downright painful, not to mention make you look puffy AF. Even though your stomach might appear bigger when you’re bloated, bloating doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve gained actual weight (in terms of body mass).

“Pooping can reduce bloating and help you fit more comfortably in your clothes so you feel smaller overall,” says Dulan. “It’s not like after you poo you should be saying, ‘This is my new weight!’”

If you’re trying to track weight loss, Dulan suggests weighing yourself at similar times in the morning, sans clothes, to avoid letting your poos (or lack thereof) trick the scale. “If you have to go to the bathroom, go ahead because it will lower the scale a little bit,” she says. “But if you don’t need to poo, don’t sit on the toilet trying to go so you weigh less. It won’t be a substantial difference.”

Ah, so what affects my ability to poo?

While the direct connection between pooping and weight loss is minimal (again, sorry!), there is one aspect of the link that you can use to your benefit: “Eating a diet that’s higher in fibre causes you to not only be more regular, but it can also help you lose weight,” says dietician Brigitte Zeitlin, a nutritionist at B Nutritious.

How so? Stocking up on enough fibre throughout your day helps push food through your system to avoid constipation before it starts. “It actually stimulates your GI tract to promote movement,” says Zeitlin. Beyond that, a high-fibre diet may help ward off certain cancers, especially that of the colon, and help regulate blood sugar and reduce cholesterol, studies show.

READ MORE: The 12 Best Foods For When You’re Super-Constipated

And when it comes to your weight, fibre fills you up like few nutrients can. “Fibre is found in three things: fruits, vegetables and whole grains,” says Zeitlin. “If you’re incorporating fibre at every meal and snack, you’re making sure you’re eating one of these fabulous foods that promote weight loss and a healthy lifestyle. In addition, you’re probably removing other things that aren’t as great [from your diet].”

That said, don’t overdo it on the F word: Zeitlin recommends women aim for 25 to 30 grams of fibre per day, because getting much more than that can not only constipate you but cause other GI distress symptoms, too.

According to Duke University, regularly consuming more than 70 grams of fibre may lead to bloating, gas, diarrhoea, cramps and a decrease in appetite. Eating too much fibre can also limit nutrient absorption and even cause intestinal blockages (that’s pretty serious stuff).

To get a healthy amount of fibre every day, try having a cup of a high-fibre food as part of your breakfast, like a cup of berries with Greek yoghurt (it’s high in probiotics, which “promote healthy GI bacteria to help move things along,” says Zeitlin). You should also aim to eat two fistfuls of veggies at both lunch and dinner to keep your digestive system — and your weight — as regular as possible.

Oh, and don’t forget about all the other stuff you do all day that affects how often you poo (fibre is just one piece of the puzzle!). As WH previously reported, you might find yourself pooping less frequently if you:

• don’t drink enough water
• forget to manage your stress levels
• change your schedule or travel frequently (hi, holiday constipation)
• experience hormonal changes (thanks to PMS, pregnancy, or menopause)
• take certain OTC or prescription medications
• change up your diet or caloric intake
• don’t engage in regular physical activity

Of course, the reverse of all these factors is true, too; some medications can make you poo more often, as can your overall activity/hydration/caffeine levels. It’s all one big balancing act.

So how do I find my “normal”?

If you’re hoping for an exact number of bowel movements that’s considered “healthy” or “normal,” so sorry (gosh, I keep apologising here). There is no one number, because the range of normal varies from person to person. Anywhere from three times a day to once every three days is generally considered healthy, so as long as you fall somewhere along that spectrum (and aren’t experiencing anything painful or out of the ordinary), you’re good.

READ MORE: 6 Reasons You’re Seeing Blood On Your Toilet Paper

Now, if you are experiencing something painful or out of the ordinary, you should contact your doctor. Depending on the issue, he or she may refer you to a gastroenterologist. According to Penn Medicine, having the following symptoms for any extended period of time (i.e. more than a few days) warrants a phone call or visit:

• consistently off-coloured poo (like pale, red, or black stool) or colour changes not related to new dietary habits
• sudden changes to the frequency of your bowel movements
• bloody stool
• severe abdominal pain while pooping
• poo that floats (which can be a sign of infection)
• poo that smells unusual or especially odorous

The bottom line? It’s important to know that a slowdown in your regular bathroom habits may make you feel like you’ve gained a bunch of weight, but that’s really not the case. A combination of bloating and discomfort — along with a couple extra grams of poo — can make the situation seem more dire than it actually is.

When you do finally go, you’ll feel lighter than air… but you’ll still only weigh a leeeettle less than before. So if weight loss is your goal, you’ll need to think outside the bathroom — good thing WH is here for that!

^{This article was originally published onwww.womenshealthsa.co.za} 

^{Image credit: Unsplash/Tim Mossholder}

Fifteen more people have died from the virus in China, as the country celebrates Lunar New Year.

Staff are encouraged to drive to work less and bring in reusable cups and bottles as part of NHS climate plans.

Approximately one-quarter of patients who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them, with five to 10 percent developing an opioid use disorder or addiction. In a new study, published Jan. 14, 2020 in PNAS, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that opioid dependence produced permanent changes in the brains of rats.