Associations of Major Dietary Patterns and Dietary Diversity Score with Semen Parameters: A Cross-Sectional Study in Iranian Infertile Men

BACKGROUND: This cross-sectional study pointed to assess the relationship between major dietary patterns and dietary diversity score with semen parameters, in infertile Iranian males. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 260 infertile men (18-55 years old) who met the inclusion criteria, entered the study. Four Semen parameters, namely sperm concentration (SC), total sperm movement (TSM), normal sperm morphology (NSM) and sperm volume were considered according to spermogram. A 168-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to collect dietary intakes and calculate dietary diversity score. Factor analy- sis was used to extract dietary patterns. RESULTS: The following four factors were extracted: “traditional pattern”, “prudent pattern”, “vegetable-based pattern” and “mixed pattern”. After adjusting potential confounders, those in the highest quartile of the traditional pattern had 83% less odds for abnormal concentration, compared with the first quartile (OR=0.17, 95% CI: 0.04-00.73); however, subjects in the highest quartile of this pattern had 2.69 fold higher odds for abnormal sperm volume as compared with those of the first quartile (95%Cl: 1.06-6.82). Men in the second quartile of prudent pattern had 4.36 higher odds of an abnormal sperm volume in comparison to the reference category (95%CI: 1.75-10.86), after considering potential confounders. With regard to mixed pattern, men in the second, third and fourth quartile of this pattern had respectively 85 (5%Cl: 0.03-0.76,), 86 (95%Cl: 0.02-0.75) and 83 % (95%Cl: 0.034-0.9) less odds of abnormal concentration, compared with the first quartile. Additionally, no significant association was found between dietary diversity score and sperm quality parameters. CONCLUSION: Higher intake of the traditional diet was linked to lower abnormal semen concentration and poorer sperm volume. Also, the mixed diet was associated with reduced prevalence of abnormal semen concentration.