Materials and Methods
The data from 122 patients were included in this multi-center (4
insutitions) prospective study, which was conducted between December
2018 and September 2020 to determine the effect of antioxidant (food)
supplements on semen quality and to compare two different molecules.
Infertile patients diagnosed with idiopathic infertility presenting with
oligo and/or asthenia and/or teratospermia were included. The inclusion
criteria were determined as the use of supplements for six months and
the absence of any disease to explain the etiology of infertility. The
consent for the study was obtained from the local ethics committee of
Erzincan University (approval number: 000009/02).
The patients were divided into two groups. The formula of Proxeed Plus
(Sigma-Tau HealthScience, Utrecht, the Netherlands) used in the first
group contained 1,000 mg l-carnitine, 725 mg fumarate, 500 mg
acetyl-l-carnitine, 1,000 mg fructose, 20 mg CoQ10, 90 mg vitamin C, 10
mg zinc, 200 μg folic acid, and 1.5 μg vitamin B12. The second group
used Carniact Duo tb (MG Farma Health Science, Mersin, Turkey), which
contained L-carnitine 500 mg, selenium 50 mcg, coenzyme Q10 20 mg,
vitamin C 60 mg, zinc 15 mg, folic acid 400 mcg, vitamin E 30 mg and
ginseng 15 mcg. A spermiogram evaluation was performed at the beginning
of the treatment to evaluate the semen parameters of each patient. At
the end of six months of treatment, consecutive semen samples were
collected. The pre-treatment semen samples, demographic data, physical
examination blood pressure, anamnesis and previous/concurrent treatments
were recorded (Table 1). Semen samples were collected after three-five
days of sexual abstinence. Ejaculate volume, total sperm count, and
total and progressive motility, as well as normal sperm morphology were
evaluated according to the WHO guidelines (2010; 5th edition
guidelines).
Table 1 : Demographic characteristics and comparisons of groups