Does UPF intake affect semen quality in men?

Consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) does not appear to influence semen quality parameters among men attending a fertility clinic, suggests a study presented at ESHRE 2025.

“In the USA, UPF comprise more than half of all calories consumed, rising from 51 percent in 2003 to 54 percent in 2018, constituting a significant and growing component of the global food supply,” said one of the study authors Dr Albert Salas-Huetos, Universitat Rovira I Virgil, Unit of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Reus, Spain.

“Several recent studies have reported an association between UPF consumption and several chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, among others. However, their impact on semen quality has been scarcely studied,” he added.

Huetos and his team analysed the association between UPF intake and semen quality in 896 samples collected among 343 men who enrolled in the Environment and Reproductive Health (EARTH) study, which involved couples seeking fertility care at an academic medical centre in Boston, Massachusetts, US, between 2007 and 2009.

Men’s diet was assessed using a 131-item food frequency questionnaire, while the UPF consumption was estimated via the NOVA classification system.

The main outcomes examined were semen volume, total sperm count, sperm concentration, total motility, progressive motility, and normal morphology. The associations of these parameters with UPF consumption were explored using multivariable generalized linear mixed models.

Sperm quality

Participating men had a median age of 36.0 years and a median BMI of 27.0 kg/m². Their median UPF consumption was 5.7 servings per day. UPF intake showed no significant association with any of the sperm quality parameters assessed. [ESHRE 2025, abstract O-193]

The mean differences between the lowest and highest UPF intake quartiles were ‒0.23 mL (95 percent confidence interval [CI], ‒0.63 to 0.16) for ejaculate volume, 0.25 x10⁶ sperm (95 percent CI, ‒0.46 to 0.95) for total sperm count, 0.34 x10⁶ sperm/mL (95 percent CI, ‒0.36 to 1.04) for sperm concentration, 1.54 percent (95 percent CI, ‒5.61 to 8.68) for total motility, 1.66 percent (95 percent CI, ‒2.94 to 6.26) for progressive motility, and 0.28 percent (95 percent CI, ‒0.73 to 1.29) for normal morphology.

These associations were adjusted by age, education, BMI, physical activity, ethnicity, smoking status, sexual abstinence, and the remaining NOVA groups (ie, unprocessed or minimally processed foods or NOVA1, processed culinary ingredients or NOVA2, and processed foods or NOVA3).

“While we did not find associations between the consumption of UPF and semen quality parameters, further studies regarding the role of UPF consumption in reproductive health are recommended,” Huetos said.

“We are currently doing those studies. We are assessing the impact of men’s UPF consumption on key outcomes of medically assisted reproductive reproduction. For example, fertilization rates, implantation, clinical pregnancy, miscarriages, and live birth,” he added.

The current study was limited by participants from a single centre only, “so the findings may not be directly translated to the general population,” according to the authors. In addition, the observational design of the study restricted any causality inference, and no assessments were made regarding possible changes in diet over time.