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