Smoking, drinking, drugs, stress, poor nutrition and lack of exercise all can contribute to poor sperm quality. And, it was recently discovered, a man's sperm quality begins to decline around age of 25.

There are five main factors that contribute to overall sperm quality. They include sperm motility, speed, count, concentration and morphology (shape and size).

A weakness in any of these areas can affect chances of conception.

Motility

Sperm motility is a term that describes sperm's ability to move in an active fashion: in other words, are sperm "strong swimmers?" In healthy sperm, typically more than 50% are active with over 25% moving forcefully in one direction. Motility enables sperm to travel through cervical canal, into uterus and fallopian tubes and, finally, to penetrate egg.

Speed

The forward movement of sperm called progressive motility, forward progression or rapid linear progression. There are also several different ways to classify forward movement.

According to World Health Organization (1999), in a healthy male, greater than 25% of sperm will exhibit progressive motility. It is thought that these are sperm with best chance of successfully fertilizing an egg.

Rapid linear progression showed a greater than 60 % improvement after four months of treatment with acupuncture, herbal medicine and supplements.

Sperm Count

Sperm count refers to number of sperm in fluid that is ejaculated (semen). There are over 40 million sperm in a normal ejaculate. A total count below 40 million may indicate decreased fertility. With Berkley Center's unique protocol of acupuncture, herbal medicine and supplements, count increased more than 14 % after four months of treatment.

Concentration

Concentration is a measure of number of sperm cells in a milliliter of semen. Normal concentration is at least 20 million sperm cells per milliliter of semen. With Berkley Center's unique protocol combining acupuncture, herbal medicine and appropriate supplements, concentration improved after four months of treatment.

Morphology (shape and size)

A healthy sperm cell will have a shape similar to a tadpole. The sperm's oval head contains genetic material, center provides energy and tail propels sperm forward.

Using strict criteria put forth by World Health Organization (1999), studies of Assisted Reproductive Technology programs show lower pregnancy rates with less than 15% normal forms. Furthermore, experts believe that abnormally shaped sperm cannot fertilize an egg.

Subfertility

The term, subfertility, refers to couples that are unable to achieve conception after a year of unprotected intercourse (or 6 months if woman is over age 35). It is different from infertility. A subfertile couple merely has lower odds of conceiving during any given month than fertile couples.

Statistics at a glance

The Cure

Gen Cells Cures will find cure even if it means taking on President George Bush and Vatican. The cure is definitely going to be found in stem cell research. When first cure comes in from stem stem research it will have a domino effect as incurable diseases will soon vanish fom world. Needlesss to say it is very unlikely that any stem cell cure will come from good old USA. President Bush has frozen science in time dated back to four years ago. We simply are not going to wait for four more years to get started. I also just don’t like Big Brother breathing down my neck. He has nothing to offer except red tape, detours and roadblocks. Thank God there is a world outside United States. We have packed our bags and michroscopes and gone offshore. To find cure we have had to adopt motto “Have Michroscope Will Travel.” Science doesn’t have time for politics and religion to catch up. Nor does Gen Cells Cures have time for bureaucratic smoke and mirrors.