Supplements are “like a religion” for Pachi Paris, a 29-year-old from Miami who works in finance. So when he and his wife started trying to conceive last year, it felt only natural that he started taking pills meant to boost his fertility, to the tune of $250 per month.
Six months later, “we found it odd that she’s not pregnant yet,” Paris said. “We both got a workup done, and it turns out that I was one that had some health issues going on with my sperm.” That came as a surprise, given Paris is young, works out, and has a healthy diet—but he’s hardly alone.
Beyond taking fertility supplements, men are going to increasingly extreme lengths to optimize their sperm health. They’re icing their testicles, avoiding pornography, and monitoring their semen’s “vitality scores” as part of the so-called sperm-maxxing trend.
While many sperm-maxxing influencers offer classic wellness misinformation—no, you don’t need to replace all your briefs with organic cotton boxers to keep cool down there—and many biohackers are relying on unproven metrics, the trend has an unexpected upside: a large male audience is newly interested in their reproductive health. It comes just as researchers are making the case that men’s well-being plays a key role in fertility—as well as pregnancy health and early child development.
“I’m encouraged anytime the spotlight shifts to male fertility,” says Michael Eisenberg, a professor of urology at Stanford University. “I think it’s been underappreciated for a long time … [and] fertility is a team sport.”
Infertility, or the inability to conceive after a year of trying, affects about one in six people worldwide. Reproductive health has long been seen as women’s territory, given women bear the physical burden of pregnancy. While some studies suggest male factors cause an estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of infertility cases, men are not evaluated in roughly one in four cases.
Men’s health plays a role in whether a pregnancy ends in miscarriage, the mother suffers from preeclampsia—a potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication—or the baby is born with birth defects, though the overall risks are low. Sperm carry epigenetic marks that are sensitive to a man’s environment before conception, meaning lifestyle choices can affect sperm health.
That’s where sperm-maxxers come in, tracking their sperm count, motility (the sperm’s ability to swim to the egg), morphology (the sperm’s shape and size), and DNA fragmentation. It takes roughly two to three months for a new sperm to fully mature, so lifestyle changes to improve sperm health can quickly yield results.
While some viral accounts suggest men eat lots of beef, butter, and raw milk, studies show that diets high in saturated fats are tied to lower sperm count, which makes pregnancy less likely. The Mediterranean diet, rich in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and fiber, is associated with better sperm quality, including sperm count, motility, and morphology.
Research also points to environmental toxins, such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals and microplastics, as potential culprits of male infertility. Prolonged exposure may cause oxidative stress—an imbalance in the body between antioxidants and unstable molecules known as free radicals, leading to cell damage—which can reduce sperm motility and viability.
Longevity influencer Bryan Johnson famously (or infamously, depending on your perspective) posted last month about allegedly ridding his semen of microplastics and the steps he took. Some of them are just good environmental advice—getting rid of plastic cutting boards, for example—but for fertility-minded men, there are other steps that are likely more important.