A Review on herbal medicine with Fertility and Infertility characteristics in Males

Male infertility is responsible for 30%-50% of infertility cases. Male fertility mainly depends on sperm morphology, quality, motility, and concentration, and abnormalities in any of these factors may result in male infertility. There are different herbal medicine with fertility and infertility characteristics in males throughout the world. The application of these plants in male fertility is of great importance, so that numerous studies have evaluated the effects of some of them. So, this study was performed with aim to evaluate herbal medicine with characteristics of fertility enhancing and infertility in males.
To access the related articles, several databases including PubMed, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Emro, WHO, IranMedex, SID, and Google Scholar were used. To collect the needed information, the studies were searched which contained the keywords of herbal medicine, male fertility, infertility, Daucus carota, Dendrophthoe falcate, either alone or in combination with other names of herbal medicine. The studies published during 2000-2015 were included. Finally, 80 papers with the most relevant topics were evaluated.
Based on the evaluated papers, Petroselinum crispum, Allium sativum, Matricaria chemmomilla, Crocus sativus L., Fumaria Parviflora, Origanum vulgarel L. spp. viride, and Daucus carota L. had male fertility enhancing properties. In contrast, Curcurma Longa, Piper nigrum, Achillea millefolium L., Capparis deciduas, Centella Asiatica, Allamanda cathartica, Aegle marmelos, Tinospora cordifolia, Martynia annua, Anethum graveolens, Mistletoe, Barleriaprionitis , and Abrus precatorius had male antifertility characteristics.
The use of herbal medicine with fertility enhancing properties can be used as supplements or alternatives to fertility chemical drugs in men. On the other hand, it is recommended that plants with antifertility properties should be less used or be avoided by men with fertility abnormalities.