The fattier the fish, the better — because the same fatty acids that make these fish such healthy choices for everything from your heart to your eyes to your brain are also positively critical to your fertility.

The omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is one of the essential building blocks of sperm — and a new study on mice shows how it’s also a key part of the acrosome, which is what enables the sperm to penetrate the egg.

You might say it’s the most important part of all. The mice would agree: When they were denied DHA, they produced fewer sperm — and the ones they did create were misshapen, rendering them infertile.

But once DHA was put back into their diets, they began to produce again like, well, mice. (Side note: There has to be a pest-control angle in here somewhere).

This is, of course, just one study on mice. But human studies have also shown how high levels of these essential fatty acids can boost your fertility.

One study from just a couple of years back found that fertile men tended to have higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids, while infertile men had higher levels of omega-6 fatty acids.

And these days, with diets heavy in grain fed animals from factory farms, most of us get less of the desirable omega-3s and far more of the undesirable omega-6 fatty acids.

Call it one more reason to switch to fresh all-natural grass-fed meats.

Naturally, omega-3 fatty acids aren’t the only answers for sperm health. A lot goes into male fertility — and studies over the years have shown that high levels of vitamin D can boost the speed and forward motion of sperm, an essential trait called motility.

Other studies have also shown that junk food, soda and the BPA used to line canned goods (including soda cans) can slash sperm levels and turn the ones that are left into the microscopic equivalent of couch potatoes: slow, lazy and uninterested in the quest for the egg.

That would explain the recent rise in male infertility.

Take choline, for example.

When was the last time you heard about that one? Possibly never — but you might want to add it to your vocabulary, because this B vitamin found in egg yolks, liver, and chicken may have the power to protect your brain and keep dementia at bay.

Researchers looked at data on some 1,400 adults between the ages of 36 and 83 who were tracked for nearly a decade and given MRI exams along with tests to check both memory and cognitive ability.

You might want to stock up on eggs: The patients with the highest dietary choline intake did much better on those memory tests than those with the lowest. What’s more, the MRIs revealed fewer signs of “white matter hyperintensity” in the brain.

That’s a blood vessel problem that may be linked to both stroke and dementia.

Sounds great, right? But there’s just one catch: The choline levels were calculated based on food surveys, and food surveys simply aren’t good science. They rely too much on guesses, estimates, and memory.

That last one’s a little ironic given that memory tests were part of the study. Can those who did the worst on those tests really be relied on to give an accurate accounting of their food intake?

On the other hand, this study doesn’t come out of the blue, either — because choline is needed by the brain to make acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in everything from muscles to memory.

Some studies have shown that Alzheimer’s patients lose the ability to turn choline into acetylcholine, and some promising experimental research has looked into finding ways to correct that — although if the problem is in the conversion, then choline supplements on their own won’t stop the disease.

But if they can prevent it, we’re on the right track — and earlier studies have shown that rats given choline in the womb go on to develop more powerful brains later.

Since choline is also essential for everything from your heart to your liver, you might want to add this to your supplement list. After all, it’s unlikely you’re getting enough from diet alone — unless you’re eating plenty of egg yolks.

By the way, choline isn’t the only B vitamin that can play a key role in stopping and even reversing cognitive decline: Seniors given a blend of B6, B12, and thiamine did significantly better on memory tests and had fewer signs of the brain shrinkage linked to dementia.

Learn more here.

Being healthy has never tasted so good!

So naturally, some researchers are trying to spoil the party — because a new study looks at the benefits of the polyphenols in red wine… when taken without the actual wine.

I’m happy to report that the experiment was a failure.

Researchers gave 61 men and women with an average age of 61 one of three drinks for four weeks: A dairy beverage with a high dose of the polyphenols found in red wine… a dairy beverage with a lower dose of those same polyphenols… and a dairy beverage with no polyphenols.

After four weeks, there was no change in blood pressure levels. The patients were all hypertensive before… and remained so afterwards with average readings of 145/86.

But even the researchers must’ve expected that.

“Previous human studies showed no effect of red wine drinking on blood pressure,” researcher Ilse Botden, MD, a PhD student at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam told WebMD.

The researchers concluded that whatever the heart benefits of red wine might be, they don’t come from lowering blood pressure. Like I said, that’s no surprise — the real surprise is that they reached any conclusion at all about red wine… since no one in the study actually drank any.

The researchers were on the right track in one regard, however: Red wine isn’t actually the best source of some of its famous antioxidants. A single resveratrol supplement, for example, can contain as much of the polyphenol as an entire case of wine.

But take it WITH your wine, not instead of it — because studies have shown that booze itself holds some terrific benefits, no matter what kind of alcoholic beverage you drink. In fact, a moderate drinking habit can help your heart, lower your risk of stroke and may even extend your life… even if it won’t lower your BP.

And of course, booze is also great for the brain: One recent study found that moderate drinkers are 30 percent less likely to develop dementia and 40 percent less likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease than non-drinkers.

If you can get all that from drinking, why get it any other way?

But it turns out resveratrol, the famous “red wine antioxidant,” can actually trick the body into thinking it’s getting some actual exercise — giving you a big-time metabolic boost with every little sip.

In just 30 days, 11 obese-but-healthy volunteers — as healthy as obese people can be, anyway — given 150 mg of resveratrol a day had real and measurable changes throughout their bodies.

They shaved five points off their blood pressure, lowered their blood sugar, and even reduced their levels of liver fat. In fact, just about the only thing it didn’t do would be one thing you’d really hope for the most — because none of the volunteers actually lost any weight.

I know. So much for the “red wine diet.”

But while they didn’t look any different from the outside, what took place on the inside was nothing short of amazing: The researchers wrote in Cell Metabolism that the volunteers had dramatically slower metabolisms during sleep.

These were the kinds of changes normally seen in people who try the impossible-to-follow ultra-low calorie diet… except these volunteers didn’t cut back on their calories at all.

The only “catch” here is that you can’t expect to get these types of benefits from red wine alone — because while it might be the tastiest way to get the antioxidant, it’s not actually the best way to get it.

In fact, you’d need between 50 and 100 glasses of red wine a day to get the 150 mg of resveratrol used in the study!

So clearly, if you want the benefits of resveratrol, you’re going to have to invest in a quality supplement or an antioxidant blend with resveratrol in it. It’s worth the money: Other studies have shown that it can protect the heart, save your vision, reduce blood sugar levels and even help you live longer.

But don’t toss the wine, either. It’s loaded with polyphenols that can boost your heart health and stimulate your immune system.

And booze in general is packed with benefits: Studies have also shown that moderate drinkers who enjoy any type of alcohol live longer, healthier lives than people who don’t drink.

So get a little exercise tonight and raise a glass to your lips. It’s the best workout of all.

Resveratrol isn’t the only way to boost your health and longevity — keep reading for something even simpler.