Study: Daily sex produces better sperm

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, June 30 (UPI) -- Daily sex -- or ejaculating daily -- for seven days improves men's sperm quality by reducing the amount of DNA damage, an Australian researcher found.

Dr. David Greening, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Sydney IVF in Wollongong, Australia, studied 118 men who had higher than normal sperm DNA damage as indicated by a DNA Fragmentation Index.

Men who had more than 15 percent of their sperm damaged were eligible for the trial. At Sydney IVF, sperm DNA damage is defined as less than 15 percent DFI for excellent quality sperm, 15 percent-24 percent DFI for good, 25 percent-29 percent DFI for fair and more than 29 percent DFI for poor quality. Other laboratories can have slightly different ranges.

The men were instructed to ejaculate daily for seven days, and no other treatment or lifestyle changes were suggested.

"We found that although frequent ejaculation decreased semen volume and sperm concentrations, it did not compromise sperm motility and, in fact, this rose slightly but significantly," Greening said in a statement.

"All that we knew was that intercourse on the day of ovulation offered the highest chance of pregnancy, but we did not know what was the best advice for the period leading up to ovulation or egg retrieval for in vitro fertilization."

The findings were presented at the 25th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam.