WEDNESDAY Oct. 31, 2007 (Foodconsumer.org) -- Women who followed a healthy diet and lifestyle could be more than 80 percent less likely to experience infertility resulting from ovulatory disorders compared to women who did not follow any aspects of a healthy lifestyle and diet, according to a study published in the November 1, 2007, issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
The study led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) examined only the risk of infertility associated with ovulatory disorders, which affects 18 to 30 percent of all cases of infertility. In the U.S. and Europe, one in six couples suffers infertility.
“The key message of this paper is that making the right dietary choices and including the right amount of physical activity in your daily life may make a large difference in your probability of becoming fertile if you are experiencing problems with ovulation,” said Walter Willett, senior author and chair of the HSPH Department of Nutrition.
After studying 17,544 married women who were participants in the Nurses’ Health Study II based at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, the researchers determined that factors that predictably affect ovulatory disorder infertility included ratio of mono-unsaturated to trans fats, protein source (plant or vegetable), carbohydrate consumption (fiber and dietary glycemic index), dairy consumption (low fat or high fat), iron intake, multivitamin use, body mass index and physical activity.
They found a diet that would help reduce the risk of ovulatory disorder infertility consists of less trans fat, and sugar, more protein from plant sources, more fiber and iron, more supplementation of vitamins and high fat diary products. Other favorable factors included a lower BMI and longer periods of excising each day.
These favorable factors worked for different subgroups of women regardless of age and whether they had been pregnant in the past.
“We analyzed what happens if you follow one, two, three, four, or more different factors. What we found was that, as women started following more of these recommendations, their risk of infertility dropped substantially for every one of the dietary and lifestyle strategies undertaken. In fact, we found a sixfold difference in ovulatory infertility risk between women following five or more low-risk dietary and lifestyle habits and those following none,” said Jorge Chavarro, Research Fellow in the HSPH Department of Nutrition.
