Fertility Fundamentals – Audrey Gaskins, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology at Emory University – Studying Semen Quality and Fertility Issues

Audrey Gaskins, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology at Emory University, delivers an interesting overview of normal sperm motility, causes of abnormal sperm morphology, and the various factors involved with fertility and semen quality.

Gaskins' extensive research has focused heavily upon the connections between environmental, dietary, and lifestyle factors with fertility and fecundity in women and men.

She has published on the many benefits of folic acid, exceeding levels well above the current recommendations, in regard to preventing anovulation and incident pregnancy loss as well as boosting the success probability of infertility treatment. She is currently working on an NIH grant that is primarily focused on extending her research to study the possible interactions between diet, air pollution, and fertility among groups of women.

Gaskins talks about semen quality in men, and some research has shown that male semen quality globally is on the decline, which is of course an area of concern for researchers. She talks about the possible factors that could play a role in the decline in sperm count, discussing lifestyle and environmental exposures, etc. She discusses fertility in detail, and her interests have driven her to study men because men have been understudied in this regard she states. She talks about DNA fragmentation and genetics, in regard to her studies.

The professor goes on to discuss how age plays a role and factors into their studies. She talks about semen samples that they study and how they collect information on important variables that could be determinants in studies. And Gaskins discusses seasonal impacts, and other possible pollutants, etc. that could impact semen quality.

In this podcast:

What environmental factors could impact semen quality?

Reasons that semen quality could be decreasing globally

Does age play a role in semen quality?