The relationship between dietary inflammatory indices and male infertility: a cross-sectional study

Inflammation is the body's defense mechanism against harmful external stimuli, which can contribute to disorders such as infertility. The purpose of this research was to assess the relationship among the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), Empirical Dietary Inflammatory Pattern (EDIP), and Dietary Inflammation Score (DIS) in relation to the odds of infertility in Iranian men.

We observed higher odds of abnormal sperm concentration in both the second tertile (odds ratio (OR) = 3.198, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.189-8.599) and the last tertile of DII (OR = 3.718, 95% CI: 1.373-10.046) when compared to the first tertile in the adjusted model. However, for other sperm quality parameters, no significant associations were found in the adjusted model (P > 0.05 for all). The findings of the present research indicated that following a pro-inflammatory dietary pattern, as reflected by a greater DII score, negatively impacts sperm quality parameters, including sperm concentration. Longitudinal studies are needed to better clarify the relationship between dietary inflammatory indices and male infertility.