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I Have a Spreadsheet for His Supplements. It Took Me 2 Years to Think About His Underwear.

Here's what I found when I finally looked...

By Lauren Miller in partnership with NADS

Updated: May 21, 2026 12:53 PM EDT

A triptych showing a positive pregnancy test, a bowl of various vitamin pills, and a black box.

Yup — I had a spreadsheet. I'm not embarrassed. Zinc, CoQ10, vitamin D, omega-3s — I researched every one of them, cross-referenced the studies, argued with my man about why he needed to actually take them and made damn sure he took them on schedule. We were in the baby making business. No room for excuses or being lazy.

I tracked my cycle with three different apps. I knew his sperm take 74 days to mature.

I....was....dialed.

And for two years, through all of that, I never once thought about what he was wearing.

It was a forum post that did it. Someone mentioned a study published in the 90s — still cited today — on synthetic fabric and sperm parameters. Two years of research. Never once thought about what he was wearing.

When I actually looked at his underwear drawer, I found six pairs of his favourite athletic brand. 92% polyester. He'd been wearing them for years.

I ordered NADS that night.

Here's What I Found

1 There's a Reason Male Anatomy Hangs Outside the Body — Temperature.

Sperm production happens outside the body for a reason. It requires a temperature slightly cooler than core body temperature. This isn't fringe wellness content — it's textbook physiology. Anything that traps heat against that tissue for hours at a time is, at minimum, worth understanding. Especially when you're already paying attention to everything else.

2 Polyester is Made from The Same Stuff as Car Tires..

A close-up of a white care label on a black garment showing material composition and washing instructions.

Check the label on his current underwear. Most popular men's underwear — including the athletic and premium brands — runs 87–92% polyester or nylon. These are petroleum-derived synthetic fibres. They're marketed as performance fabric. What the marketing doesn't mention is that they hold heat differently than natural fibre does. For a 40-minute workout that distinction barely matters. For sixteen hours of daily wear, it's worth thinking about.

*NADS uses a small amount of BPA-free elastane in the outer. The contact layer next to skin is 100% organic cotton.

3 This Has Been a Known Problem in the Scientific Community for 30 Years!!

A 1993 study on polyester and male reproductive parameters. The researchers found measurable effects on sperm motility and count from synthetic material contact. Men in fertility forums have been referencing it for years. I found it by accident at 11pm. It shouldn't be that hard to find — but it is, because no one with a financial interest in underwear wants you to find it.

4 "Cotton" from mainstream brands isn't the same as genuinely organic cotton.

Here's what nobody tells you: "organic cotton" just means the farm. The cotton can still be bleached, dyed with harsh chemicals, and processed with treatments you'd never knowingly put near him — and the label still says organic. GOTS certification is the audit that covers the whole chain, not just where the plant grew. Farm to finished garment, third-party inspected. That's why I specifically looked for GOTS when I was shopping. NADS has it. Most brands don't.

5 The undyed option removed a variable I hadn't considered.

I didn't think much about dyes until I started reading about fabric finishing treatments. The Ball-Natural undyed option is what I ordered — no synthetic dyes, no chemical treatments. One more thing I wasn't giving him unnecessarily. He can't tell the difference. He just knows they're comfortable. I know why.

6 He wasn't going to do this research himself.

This is not a criticism. In our house, I'm the one who reads studies and changes the products. He trusts me to do the homework, and I trust him to actually take the supplements when I put them in front of him. That's how we work. I put the NADS in his drawer without explaining myself. A week later he told me they were the best underwear he'd ever worn and asked where I'd bought them. That was the confirmation I needed.

7 It's the cheapest variable in the stack.

We've spent real money on supplements, appointments, tracking apps, dietary changes. A full drawer of NADS costs less than two months of his CoQ10. Measured against everything else we're already doing, it's not a significant spend. Measured against the daily compounding effect of removing one environmental variable for the next year or two — it's probably one of the higher-value decisions on the list. I wish I'd made it sooner.

What Happened After

I put them in his drawer without saying a word about the research. I didn't mention the study. I didn't mention the spreadsheet. I said nothing.

A week later he told me they were the most comfortable underwear he'd ever worn. He asked where I'd bought them. I told him. He asked me to order more.

That was enough. I don't need to know if it moved a number on a test. I needed to know he'd keep wearing them — because that's the only version of this that actually works. He's worn them every day since.

P.S. The Sizing Thing (Because You'll Want to Know This)

Order one size up from what he normally wears. NADS run small — a medium should order a large. If he's between sizes, go bigger. Free exchanges if you get it wrong, but every review says the same thing: size up and you won't.