Wednesday May 21, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study recently published in Andrologies suggests eating a diet full of oxidized cholesterol can damage men's fertility.   Cholesterol is found only in animal-based foods such as meat and seafood, but not plant-based foods and improper cooking methods can lead to the formation of oxidized cholesterol.

The study led by Dr Alireza Garjaniat at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Tabriz, Iran and colleagues conducted the study and found oxidized cholesterol-rich diets led to abnormal permatogenesis. 

For the study, rats were fed a normal diet, a diet high in low density lipoprotein cholesterol and another diet with oxidized low density lipoprotein for 14 weeks to see how cholesterol and oxidized cholesterol affect spermatogenesis parameters.

The researchers found rats using the oxidized cholesterol diet had smaller sex organs and those with high serum concentrations of oxidized cholesterol had much lower sperm counts and viable sperm counts.

Sex hormones including FSH, LH and testosterone were much lower in those rats with high serum concentrations of oxidized cholesterol.

The non-oxidized low density lipoprotein does not affect spermatogenesis and sex organ weight.

Oxidized cholesterol has been found in previous studies to increase risk of atherosclerosis.  Oxidized cholesterol or oxysterol enhances calcification of the arteries and promotes the formation of a clotting agent.

Cholesterol can be naturally oxidized in vivo.  But cholesterol can also be oxidized unnaturally in cooked or fried foods.   Studies have discovered that diet with oxidized cholesterol is the source of oxidized cholesterol in the blood. (David Liu)