Relationship between Dairy Product Consumption and Oligospermia; a Case-Control Study

Infertility affects an estimated 15% of couples globally and in Iran, a quarter of In-troduction: One of the current debates regarding men’s reproductive health is the declining sperm count and the role of nutritional and environmental factors. This study aims to investigate the asso-ciation between dairy product consumption and oligozoospermia, sperm count of 5 to 15 million per milliliter of semen, in adult men. This age-matched case-control study was conducted on 102 oligozoo-spermia and 306 healthy men (control group). Both groups were recruited from an infertility clinic in Tehran, the Royan Institute. Dietary intake of subjects was collected using a valid and reliable 168-item food frequency questionnaire. Odds ratios (OR), ex-tracted from conditional logistic re-gression, were used to compare the occurrence of oligozoospermia by tertiles of dairy intake. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, the high intake of low-fat dairy prod-ucts was inversely associated with the risk of oligozoospermia (OR: 0.48; 95%CI: 0.24 – 0.95), (P =0.046). The higher intake of high–fat dairy products [(OR: 2.44; 95%CI: 1.26 – 4.73), (P =0.008)], high–fat milk [(OR: 2.16; 95%CI: 1.09 – 4.30), (P =0.043)], and ice creams [(OR: 2.37; 95%CI: 1.25 – 4.50), (P =0.008)] were also positively associated with oligozo-ospermia. The high intake of low–fat dairy foods seems to have a protective effect on oligozoo-spermia. Higher intake of high – fat dairy products, high– fat milk, and ice creams were associated with an increased risk of oligozo-ospermia.