The Effect of Anethum Graveolens on Male Fertility: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

  The literature survey has reported that Anethum graveolens extract is inescapably linked with fertility. Recent studies showed that the aqueous extract of Anethum graveolens extract has an adverse effect on male fertility by affecting serum testosterone level, sperm concentration as well as sperm motility. However, its evidence has not been established. The present paper tries to determine the level of evidence for the effect of dill (Anethum graveolens) on male fertility. MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Academic Search Complete, SPORT Discus, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched to retrieve the literature used for this review. Keywords utilized across the database search were dill, Anethum graveolens, mice, male fertility, randomized control trial, and experimental. The search was limited to studies in animals; published in the English language. Meta-analysis was conducted to examine the effect of Anethum graveolens (dill) extract administration on male fertility. The overall methodological quality of evidence was assessed using the Pedro scale. Out of 25 studies, four trials met the inclusion criteria for this review. All the studies were included in the meta-analysis. Of these, four studies were included for the analysis of sperm concentration, three studies for sperm motility, and two studies for serum testosterone hormone levels. The meta-analysis results suggested there were no significant differences between male fertility and other interventions in the effects of inducing male infertility. The number of studies regarding the current topic is scarce. The overall quality of evidence was very low. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude whether the aqueous extract of dill seed has or has no adverse effect on male fertility. Considering our meta-analysis, we recommended that there is a need for further investigation to provide adequate evidence for the effect of dill (Anethum graveolens) on male fertility.