04/01/2026
New Study: Damaged S***m Plays a Role In Recurrent Pregnancy Loss
By Chris D. Meletis, N.D.
The results of a recent study1 on recurrent pregnancy loss suggest that we may have been overlooking a common cause of miscarriage – poor s***m quality. The study, published in January 2019 in Clinical Chemistry, adds to a growing amount of research showing good quality s***m may play a role in supporting a healthy pregnancy—not just in helping a woman conceive in the first place.
If you’ve had at least two or three back-to-back pregnancy losses before 20 weeks’ gestation, you suffer from recurrent miscarriages. Previously, you needed to suffer from three consecutive miscarriages to fall into this category, but recently the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology changed the qualifications to two miscarriages.2 Under the old qualifications, this condition affected 1% to 2% of couples.3 If you’ve gone through this, you know it’s heartbreaking.
What Causes Miscarriages?
Determining the exact cause of miscarriage is difficult. But, in the past, when trying to discover the cause of these multiple miscarriages, doctors focused only on the woman. And we do know that certain maternal health conditions are associated with a higher risk of miscarriage, including untreated hypothyroidism, low progesterone production, uncontrolled diabetes, uterine abnormalities, infections, autoimmune problems, and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS).3
Current guidelines don’t include the routine investigation of male partners as a possible cause of recurrent pregnancy loss.1 However, more and more studies are pointing to damaged s***m as the cause of many recurrent miscarriages. The problem? Too much DNA damage caused by free radicals, otherwise known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). Too many free radicals lead to oxidative stress, a process that can damage s***m DNA.
New Study Sheds Light on the Man’s Role
Scientists at the Imperial College in London published the most recent study on this topic in a journal called Clinical Chemistry in January 2019.1 The researchers compared the s***m quality of 50 men whose partners suffered from recurrent pregnancy loss with s***m quality from men whose partners didn’t experience any miscarriages. The result? There are twice as much DNA damage in the s***m from the men whose partners had multiple miscarriages compared with s***m from men whose partner had a healthy pregnancy. Compared to the controls, the s***m from men whose partners suffered from recurrent pregnancy loss also had four times the amount of ROS.
The study authors suggested several possible reasons for the increased ROS. One could be bacteria from a past infection remaining in the prostate gland, which makes semen, the fluid that contains s***m. The men with faulty s***m were also older and more overweight than their counterparts in the control group. Age and weight could both cause higher ROS levels.
Can Antioxidant Male Fertility Supplements Protect S***m?
This study suggests that supplementing with antioxidants can reduce ROS damage to s***m. Antioxidants protect against ROS-caused oxidative stress. Although the study didn’t investigate the effects of antioxidant supplementation, past studies have shown that taking antioxidants can keep DNA in s***m healthy. For example, in 101 infertile men who had abnormal semen, an antioxidant supplement (FH PRO for Men from Fairhaven Health) containing L-carnitine, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), vitamin E, lycopene, N-acetyl L-cysteine, vitamins A, D3, C, and K, B-complex vitamins, iodine, selenium, zinc, copper, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, grape seed extract, benfotiamine, and L-arginine led to 20% less DNA damage, among other benefits.4
The Takeaway
Damaged s***m are far more involved in recurrent pregnancy loss than we ever thought before. Protecting them from too many reactive oxygen species can not only help you get pregnant in the first place—it may help you carry your baby to term.
