New York, March 1 (IANS): If you are taking antioxidant supplements thinking these would improve the semen quality, thick twice.

According to researchers from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in the US, such supplements do not improve male fertility.

The study also found that antioxidant supplements do not improve pregnancy and live birth rates either.

Antioxidant supplements are commercially available to help treat male infertility, but research on its effects on semen quality and rates of pregnancy and live birth are limited.

The new study, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, detailed results from the Males, Antioxidants, and Infertility Trial (MOXI), a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical study conducted at nine sites across the US.

The study enrolled 171 couples where the male partner had at least one abnormal reading on an analysis evaluating sperm concentration, mobility, shape and DNA quality. The female partners had normal fertility test results.

Men received a placebo or an antioxidant supplement containing vitamins C, E and D, selenium, l-carnitine, zinc, folic acid and lycopene for at least three months and up to six months.

The team found no statistically significant differences in sperm concentration, mobility, shape and DNA quality between the placebo and antioxidant groups after three months.

Furthermore, live birth rates did not seem to differ at six months between the antioxidant (15 per cent) and placebo (24 per cent) groups.

The authors noted that recruitment was stopped before it reached the desired number of participants because no benefits were seen in the antioxidant group.

"Antioxidant supplements do not help men with infertility," suggested the study.