Get down and don’t wrap it up. Yours is the most fun, toe-curling, O-faced endeavor any man can possibly undertake. But before you blow your load—and the millions of sperm floating through it—you need to make sure at least one of those cells is up to the challenge: finding the egg. Eating these foods that increase sperm count will help.
10 Foods That Increase Sperm Count, Ranked in Order of Virility
10. Oysters
They’re famed for putting you at attention, but what does that matter if your ammo’s no good? Luckily, oysters are super-high in zinc, which research published in Fertility and Sterility found boosts sperm quality in fertile and less-than-fertile men alike. And when consumed with folic acid (more on that next), sub-fertile men’s sperm counts grew by 74 percent. Oysters are also rich in vitamins B12, manganese, and selenium, all of which been linked to better-firing sperm.
9. Black-Eyed Peas
When it comes to upping your folic acid intake, there’s no better food out there than black-eyed peas. Asparagus is rich in folic acid, a nutrient that’s vital to DNA/RNA and protein synthesis, according to Alfred Shtainer, M.D., a board-certified urologist at New York Presbyterian Hospital. “When there is a deficiency in folic acid, there is an increase in sperm with chromosomal abnormalities.”
8. Asparagus
Granted your girl can get over the funky-smelling pee, asparagus can help improve the quality of your sperm. While also a good source of folic acid, it also has an ORAC score (a measure of antioxidant content) of 1,500. That number might not mean much to you, but it’s huge—like, more than double kale’s score, huge. Sperm cells actually spew out damaging oxidants as a byproduct of their metabolisms, says Ashok Agarwal, Ph.D., director of the Clinical Andrology Laboratory and Sperm Bank at Cleveland Clinic. They depend on your diet to avoid fertility-wrecking mutations.
7. Dark Chocolate
Granted it has a high cacao percentage (think: above 60), your chocolate bar contains way more than milk and sugar—it also packs the amino acid L-Arginine HCL, which improves blood flow south of the border, something that’s necessary both for erections and sperm production, according to Darius A. Paduch, M.D., Ph.D., director of sexual health and medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Plus, the enzyme may help mediate the negative effects of stress on sperm production and quality, according to the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research.
6. Maca
In one Andrologia study, researchers in Peru—where this cruciferous veggie’s root has long been used as a natural fertility-enhancer—found that men who took a daily dose of 1,500 to 3,000 milligrams of black maca extract experienced an increase in sperm production after just one day. Paduch also notes that maca root is a beneficial sperm-boosting supplement especially in men who are involved with toxins on a regular basis, as animal research has shown that lead-poisoned rats had better sperm counts if they were fed maca root.
5. Bananas
This phallic-shaped fruit contains bromelain, a natural anti-inflammatory enzyme, which is believed to help increase testosterone production, according to Shtainer. This testosterone boost can improve sperm production—not to mention your sex drive. Bonus: Their B vitamins can help give you the energy to “try” every night of the month.
4. Walnuts
“These nuts are excellent for men’s nuts,” Paduch says. They can help improve their sperm production with their generous supply of manganese, cooper, folate, vitamin B6, thiamin, omega-3 fatty acids, and protein. In fact, in one UCLA study, healthy young men who ate 2.5 ounces (that’s a little more than half a cup) of walnuts per day for 12 weeks improved their sperm’s vitality, motility, and morphology.
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3. Pumpkin Seeds
“Pumpkin seeds are my favorite food for men with infertility,” Paduch says. “Eating them is like taking the best and most supplement from Whole Foods, but for much, much, much cheaper.” A single serving packs more than 100 percent of your daily value of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, cooper, and manganese. Research published in Andrologia shows that pumpkin seed extract may even protect men from suffering the reproductive side effects of certain cancer treatments.
2. Beef
It’s what’s for dinner—especially if you are vying to put a bun in her oven. L-carnitine, a nutrient found in red meat is great for sperm production and quality, Paduch says. In one European Academy of Andrology study, men whose diets were supplemented with the nutrient significantly increased their sperm concentration and motility. What’s more, the greatest increase was seen in men who had poor baseline sperm levels.
1. Watermelon
Lycopene—the antioxidant that gives watermelon and tomatoes their bright-red hue—is the mac-daddy of the fertility world. And while eating pretty much any red piece of produce will boost your levels, watermelon is the richest source around. Eating just one wedge a day can improve your number of in-shape sperm by 37.5 percent, per research in Fertility and Sterility.
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Originally written for AskMen.