Does Your Diet Affect Your Fertility?
therwise, we’re losing half the batVisit any fertility chat room online, and one of the main topics of discussion will likely be what to eat to maximize your chances of conceiving.
In addition to the multitude of dietary supplements touted as fertility boosters, there are also a whole host of foods that are said to contribute to a healthy pregnancy.
Amidst all the myths and marketing, what is the real evidence for using certain foods to improve male and female fertility and support fetal development?
First, when it comes to supporting a healthy pregnancy and fetus, there are some nutrients that can really make a difference, like folic acid. When taken before and during pregnancy, it has been shown to help prevent anencephaly, a birth defect of the baby’s brain, and spina bifida, which affects the baby’s spine.
Because these abnormalities develop very early in pregnancy, often before a woman knows she is pregnant, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all women of childbearing age take 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid each day.
Fortifying staple foods such as cereals with folic acid may provide even more effective protection, as many pregnancies are unplanned. It is estimated that in 2019, effective fortification programmes prevented 22% of potential folic acid-preventable cases of spina bifida and anencephaly worldwide.
Folic acid may have an additional benefit: When taken as a supplement by women trying to conceive, it may increase the chances of getting pregnant, although more trials are needed to confirm this.
What about other foods and supplements?
Image caption,Research suggests diet may affect male fertility
To answer this question, it is necessary to analyze the main reasons for infertility.
In the United States, after one year of unprotected intercourse, 15% of couples fail to conceive. The potential causes are multiple.
On the female side, the ovaries may be unable to produce healthy eggs, or the egg may not be able to travel from the ovaries to the uterus – for example, due to blocked fallopian tubes. Even if the egg makes this journey, it may not attach to the wall of the uterus or may not survive once it has attached.
This includes their ability to move efficiently (motility), their shape and size (morphology), and their number in a given amount of semen (sperm count).
A range of factors can threaten sperm quality, including environmental issues such as pollution. Even after testing, the cause of infertility is not always clear: about 15% of infertility cases remain unexplained.
While no single food or supplement can be a magic bullet for these potential problems, experts say diet can play a beneficial role throughout the trying to conceive process and beyond.
Clearly, being well nourished is essential.
Perhaps the best-known findings in this area come from a study of babies conceived during the so-called “Dutch hunger winter” of 1944, an eight-month famine that occurred when the Nazis cut off food supplies to the Netherlands at the end of World War II.
Expectant mothers survived on just 400 calories a day, a fraction of the intake needed for a healthy pregnancy. Babies conceived during this era suffered a range of adverse health consequences: They were shorter and thinner than those born before or after them, and their heads were smaller. As adults, they had higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and schizophrenia, and they tended to die younger.
For those who have access to adequate nutrition, it is still important to get the right mix of nutrients.
A 2015 study of couples undergoing IVF found that men’s meat consumption, and specifically the type of meat they ate, affected outcomes, as measured by fertilization rates.
Eating more poultry had a positive impact on fertility rates, while eating processed meat (such as bacon and sausages) had a negative impact.
Men who ate the least amount of processed meat, averaging less than 1.5 servings per week, had an 82% chance of their partner becoming pregnant, while men who ate the most processed meat, averaging 4.3 servings per week, had only a 54% chance.
Even after conception, the father’s diet can have an indirect effect on the unborn child.
A study by researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia has shown that fathers’ diet has a lasting effect on the future health of their unborn children.
The study found that men’s dietary intake strongly influenced women’s, which in turn affected the baby’s development. Other studies suggest that a father’s weight can have an intergenerational effect, influencing a child’s weight.
“Men’s health and nutrition in relation to fertility is overlooked, yet it is so important,” says Shelley Wilkinson, a dietitian who was one of the authors of the University of Queensland study and now works at Lifestyle Maternity, a private fertility clinic in Australia. “It can impact the health of their grandchildren.
Wilkinson also stresses the importance of tackling any changes as a couple. “If one person is following dietary guidelines, the other is more likely to follow suit,” she says.
