Male fertility
- Fertility concerns?
Start here
- Fertility concerns?
The evidence landscape
- Fertility concerns? Arrange assessment alongside your partner, including a semen analysis. - An abnormal result? Ask about interpretation and repeat testing. One result doesn't settle your fertility. - Want to make changes? Stop smoking, reduce alcohol and discuss relevant medicines, supplements or exposures with your clinician. Supplements aren't a proven shortcut to a live birth. Don't delay assessment while trying to improve a sperm number.
This answer draws on a full research review about semen testing, two supplement-review abstracts and two full captured NHS pages. The testing review is older, so we haven't reused its numerical laboratory thresholds.
This page cannot diagnose the reason for a result or tell you which treatment to choose. It doesn't recommend hormone treatment, advanced sperm testing, or a supplement regimen.
When the answer changes
This page cannot diagnose the reason for a result or tell you which treatment to choose. It doesn't recommend hormone treatment, advanced sperm testing, or a supplement regimen. The testing review discusses specialist options, but their presence in a paper doesn't make them appropriate for every reader. Don't use a repeat-test interval or a supplement course as a new waiting period if assessment is already indicated. Ask your clinician what should happen in parallel and when the result needs review. If you're already receiving fertility treatment, keep the clinic involved in any proposed change. The practical aim is to understand the next clinical decision, not to promise that changing a number will produce a baby.
Getting pregnant and testing
What can I do now, and when should I ask for help?
Fertility supplements
Which supplements are useful, and which need more caution?
Our public fertility answers link to the sources behind them. If an answer has been reviewed by a clinician, that will be noted on the page.