Fertility Diet for Women

Changing the quality of your diet is one the best ways to improve your health for fertility, pregnancy, and beyond. When working with fertility clients, I use an integrated approach incorporating acupuncture, nutritional support, lifestyle modifications, and mindfulness. However, one of the first conversations that I have with new patients is about diet and nutrition.

The list of recommendations below is based on one of the Nurses’ Health Studies, which have become some of the largest women’s health studies since 1976. The researchers summarized their findings in the The Fertility Diet book, outlining ten recommendations for women to boost ovulation naturally and become pregnant. Women that followed five or more of these recommendations, reduced their risk of ovulatory infertility by 80 to 90 percent.

Even more encouraging is that the majority of these recommendations make sense for other long-term health goals. I customize these general diet recommendations, paying attention to food allergies, certain inflammatory foods, as well as palate preferences. Additionally, I take into consideration specific fertility-related diagnoses such as PCOS or endometriosis. Some research suggests that certain foods for these conditions can be problematic. Here is the summary of the study’s findings to help you rethink your diet when it comes to fertility:

Avoid Trans-Fats

Trans fats are a specific kind of fat found in commercially baked and fried foods such as french fries and donuts. They raise your “bad” cholesterol, lower your “good” cholesterol, and lead to an increased risk of heart disease. Solid margarines, vegetable shortening, commercially baked goods, fast foods, and any other foods with the ingredient “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” contain trans-fats.

Instead, choose monounsaturated and omega-3 polyunsaturated fats such as cold water fish including sardines and salmon. Vegetarian sources include olive oil, flaxseed oil, nuts, seeds, and chia seeds. These “good” fats improve insulin sensitivity, reduce inflammation, and benefit fertility.

If you choose fish as your main omega-3 source, be sure to choose fish with lower levels of mercury by comparison. Visit the Environmental Working Groups’s Seafood Consumer Guide or the National Resource Defense Council’s Seafood Consumer Guide to learn more. Women trying to conceive but concerned about mercury and other contaminants can try to include a high-quality, fish-oil supplement. Choose a company that third-party batch tests, conducts research, and uses molecular distillation for their fish oils.

Choose Slow Carbohydrates

The study also found that diets low in whole grains were associated with a 55% increased ovulatory infertility risk. Eating refined carbohydrates including sweets, white breads, and pizza causes a spike in insulin and blood sugar. These irregular spikes are thought to lead to hormonal disturbances affecting ovulation. Don’t forget that beverages count too, so skip the sugary drinks and soda.

Choose whole grains such as barley, brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, and whole oats. These grains contain more fiber and do not cause similar spikes in blood sugar. Additionally, add multiple servings of foods of color as these foods are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

I recommend eating from the rainbow, choosing foods with a variety of pigments. Pick your favorite red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple foods. Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables with dark pigments such as strawberries, sweet potatoes, golden beets, dark leafy greens, wild blueberries, and plums.

Try Vegetarian Proteins

Findings from the Nurses’ Health Study also suggests that the type of protein in our diets make a difference. Replacing twenty-five grams of animal protein with twenty-five grams of vegetable protein lowered the risk of ovulatory infertility by 50%. Vegetarian protein sources include beans, peas, tofu, soybeans, or nuts. Additionally, adding one serving of red meat instead of a carbohydrate had the opposite effect on infertility.

Other nutritional studies have come to the same conclusion about the benefits of vegetarian proteins in lieu of animal proteins. Research suggests that the body does not treat plant and animal proteins the same. However, no definitive conclusion has been drawn as to why vegetarian protein may be helpful for conception.

When I think about why vegetarian protein may be beneficial for fertility, I consider the advise in regards to fish consumption. To minimize exposure to mercery and other contaminants, the recommendation is to eat lower on the food chain, avoiding larger fish such as tuna.

Vegetarians are generally eating lower on the food chain, consuming less hormones, less antibiotics, and other synthetic ingredients that may be found in meat products. We currently have no way of measuring how all of these chemicals may or may not be affecting fertility. As a result, my additional recommendation is to choose organic. If you are trying to conceive, add organic meats, dairy, eggs, vegetables, and fruit whenever possible.

Drink Whole Milk

A similarly perplexing discovery from the same study is that women with ovulatory infertility also benefit from one to two servings of full-fat dairy. The opposite was true for women who consume non-fat dairy products. This recommendation is surprising given that saturated fat in dairy products and other foods have long been associated with a myriad of other health conditions including heart disease.

In other words, to protect against ovulatory infertility, drink a glass of whole milk. Include a small dish of ice cream or full-fat yogurt everyday. Temporarily trade in skim milk and low or no-fat dairy products for their full-fat cousins. If your diet is already dairy-heavy, remember that only one to two servings is all you need according to the research.

One of the theories behind this discovery is related to how non-fat milk products are processed. When you remove the full-fat part of dairy, you are also removing the part which contains natural amounts of female sex hormones. This process leaves behind the part of the food containing male sex hormones.

This starts to add up if you are eating the same non-fat yogurt for lunch daily, 365 days a year. My advice to patients is to try to eat dairy and other foods in their natural state. Choose foods in their least-processed, least-packaged, most-original form. Patients often hear me recommend homemade, organic full-fat ice cream instead of the non-fat, frozen yogurt blend coming from a dispenser.

Introduce Iron & Folic Acid

Iron plays a key role in DNA replication and egg maturation in advance of ovulation. Folic acid and iron play key roles in the beginning of conception when cell division requires an abundance of these two nutrients. Research shows that women who increase their daily iron intake to 700 mcg, cut their risk of ovulatory infertility by 40-50%. Similarly, women who consume 40-80 mg of iron also reduce their risk by 40%.

These findings were also a surprise given that the iron and folic acid recommendations for fertility are significantly higher than the current Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA). Additionally, the type of iron also makes a difference. The study indicates that iron sources need to be plant based, derived from fruits, vegetables, and beans, but not red meat.

Calculate Your Fertility BMI

BMI or body mass index is a measurement combining height and weight to estimate general health and body fat. Based on multiple research studies, BMI measurements between 18.5-24.9 are generally thought to be the most protective for preventing a long list of health conditions.

The Nurses’ Health Study suggest that women with a BMI between 20 and 24 are the most likely to conceive. Women with a BMI in the lowest and highest ranges have the most difficulty conceiving. Even a small change towards this ideal BMI range is helpful to promote ovulation. The study shows that losing or gaining just 5-10% of your starting weight is enough to restart ovulation.

In other words, if you don’t fall into this ideal range, don’t lose hope. Find ways to start working towards this ideal range and it may be enough to help you conceive. Focus on the recommendations above, changing the quality of the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins you eat. These subtle changes usually lead to natural and healthy weight changes benefitting fertility.

Consider Soy, Dairy, & Gluten

Should you avoid soy, dairy, or gluten when you are trying to conceive? This is a complicated question. Undiagnosed celiac disease eventually leads to deficiencies in folic acid and iron, in addition to damages in the small intestine lining. Even without a diagnosis of celiac, initial studies suggest that dairy and gluten could be problematic for endometriosis. You can read more about this topic is the Wheat, Dairy, & Other Dietary Recommendations for Endometriosis article.

Does that mean these foods are problematic for everyone? Is it better to avoid dairy or include the full-fat dairy recommendation from the Nurses’ Health Study? What about soy?

Soy is another highly-allergenic food found in many processed products making it difficult to avoid. However, extensive studies have shown that a life-long diet rich in whole soy foods such as tofu or edamame can be preventative for breast cancer. Another study found that moderate soy intake had no influence over ovulatory fertility.

When considering these questions, I look at the whole person’s health history to see if there may be a reason to give these foods special consideration. If you choose gluten, dairy, or soy, do so in moderation. Choose a non-GMO, organic, and unprocessed version. When in doubt, a simple diet-elimination trial may help to determine whether a certain food is problematic for fertility or general well-being.

Order A Food Inflammation Test

One of the the theories behind undiagnosed infertility is the unknown role of inflammation. A food allergy test can be an additional tool to identify foods causing an immune or inflammatory reaction in the body. Identifying problematic foods may not only be helpful for an irregular cycle but other symptoms as well, including headaches, abdominal bloating, constipation, and low energy.

If you would like to learn more ways to improve natural fertility, you may enjoy Natural Ways to Improve Your Cervical Fluid and Basal Body Temperature Charting: Predicting Ovulation, Pregnancy, & More.

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