Male infertility associated with low vitamin D levels – Dec 2012

Associations between testosterone, bone mineral density, vitamin D and semen quality in fertile and infertile Chinese men.

Int J Androl. 2012 Dec;35(6):783-92. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2605.2012.01287.x. Epub 2012 Jun 19.
Yang B, Sun H, Wan Y, Wang H, Qin W, Yang L, Zhao H, Yuan J, Yao B yaobingliang@yahoo.com.cn
Institute of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing Jinling Hospital, Clinical School of Medical College, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.

Testosterone (T) and vitamin D (VD) interact in androgen deficient men, however, this interaction and subsequent semen quality and bone mineral density (BMD) status is not clear in infertile men. Our objective was to investigate T, VD, semen quality, BMD and their relationships in Chinese infertile men.

We conducted a cross-sectional study of 559 men aged 20-40 years, including 195 fertile men, 9 infertile men with known risk factors for osteoporosis (WR) and 355 infertile men without known risk factors for osteoporosis (WOR). WOR infertile men constituted

• 314 oligo-, astheno-, teratospermic or normospermic infertile men (OATN men) and
• 41 non-obstructive azoospermic men (NOA men).

Differences of parameters were assessed, and the relationships were adjusted by multiple linear regression.
WOR infertile men had significantly lower T, lumbar spine and total hip BMD than fertile men (all p < 0.05).
Bioavailable T (Bio-T) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] were independent determinants of BMD in WOR infertile men (all p < 0.01) but not in fertile men. After stratifying Bio-T, WOR infertile men had lower BMD than fertile men (all p < 0.05) in low Bio-T subgroups (Bio-T ≤ 11.6 nmol/L), but not high Bio-T subgroups (Bio-T > 11.6 nmol/L). 25(OH)D was an independent determinant of sperm motility and morphology in WOR OATN men (all p < 0.05), with only borderline significance in fertile men (motility: p = 0.047; morphology: p = 0.056). T determined sperm concentration (square root) and morphology in WOR OATN men (all p < 0.001). No correlations between T and 25(OH)D were found in all groups.
We suggest that infertile men have lower T and BMD than fertile men. 25(OH)D and T were associated with low BMD and poor semen quality in infertile men.

© 2012 The Authors. International Journal of Andrology © 2012 European Academy of Andrology.

PMID: 22713128

Summary: Infertility associated with LOW

• Vitamin D
• Bone Mineral Density (which is associated with low vitamin D)
• Testosterone (which is associated with low vitamin D)

See also VitaminDWiki

• Semen worse when vitamin D lower than 20 or higher than 50 ng – Oct 2012
• Male fertility 4 X higher if high Vitamin D – Nov 2015
• Reproduction function in males improved by vitamin D – review Aug 2012
• Vitamin D and fertility: a systematic review – May 2012
• All items in category Fertility and Vitamin D 142 items
• BMD associated with free and bioavailable vitamin D – March 2011
• Bone Health and vitamin D book - 2011
• Bone density correlates better with free D (calculated) rather than measured vitamin D – Jan 2014