What you consume daily is crucial for your overall health, including reproductive health. Adopting healthy eating habits helps to supply the body with proper nutrition and maintain a healthy body weight. Good nutrition can positively impact the quality of egg and sperm, enhancing fertility outcomes.
Multiple studies suggested that dietary habit and various essential nutrients are associated with optimal reproductive function1. Nutritional deficiencies can result in hormonal imbalances, poor sperm and egg quality and impaired embryo development. Vitamins, minerals and other nutrients help to maintain processes related to fertility such as hormonal production, ovulation, sperm production and motility.
The Mediterranean dietary pattern has been suggested to improve fertility2. The Mediterranean diet is characterized by high consumption of plant-based foods, olive oil, whole grains, moderate intake of fish and poultry and with low consumption of red meats and refined carbohydrates. Various studies reported Mediterranean dietary pattern helps with weight management, lower risk of heart diseases and improved clinical pregnancy outcomes in assisted reproductive technology (ART).
In addition, having a diet which contains various essential nutrients such as folic acid, Vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids poses positive impact on couples who are trying to conceive. For instance, Vitamin B12 which is involved in red blood cell production and DNA synthesis regulates female hormones and maintains a healthy menstrual cycle3. Vitamin B12 deficiency leads to anemia and negatively impact fertility outcomes.
Good to include in your dietary pattern:
- High-fiber foods
- Low trans-fatty acids
- More plant-derived protein and less animal protein
- Folic acid, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids
- Avoid refined and simple carbohydrates
- Decreased consumption of red meat and processed meat
It is important to acknowledge that even the healthiest of diets cannot cure the more severe medical conditions that cause infertility in men and women. For example, a woman has blocked fallopian tubes preventing sperm from fertilizing an egg, it is impossible to resolve that blockage by dietary changes. Fortunately, in vitro fertilization (IVF) services provided by fertility doctors are useful in treating those cases. To know more about IVF, feel free to contact us.
References:
1. Skoracka. K, Ratajczak. A. E. etc. 2021, Female Fertility and the Nutritional Approach: The Most Essential Aspects. Adv Nutr Nov; 12 (6): 2372-2386
2. Baroutis. D, Kalampokas. T, etc. 2024, The Role of Mediterranean Diet in Assisted Reproduction: A Literature Review. Nutrients 2024 Aug 22;16 (16): 2807
3. Shukla. S, Shrivastave. D, 2024, Nutritional Deficiencies and Subfertility: A Comprehensive Review of Current Evidence. Cureus. Aug; 16 (8): e66477
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