Researchers at Queens University, Belfast, have found that sperm from diabetic men shows more DNA damage than the sperm from men without diabetes.
It was the first time medical researchers had compared the sperm of healthy men with those who had diabetes and their findings suggest that men with diabetes may experience problems with their fertility.
Of 27 diabetic men who had their sperm samples examined, semen volume was significantly less than in samples from healthy men. Although the sperm looked normal, when it was measured for DNA damage it was found to have greater levels of fragmentation and more deletions in DNA - in the mitochondria, or energy generating structures in the cells.