Mediterranean diet helps infertility in women
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If you are a woman seeking infertility treatment, you need to know that eating Mediterranean diet, which is full of fruit, vegetables, vegetable oils and fish may increase your odds of getting pregnant, according to a new study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
The study led by researchers in the Netherlands showed that among 161 couples who visited the researchers' clinic for fertility treatment, those who ate a Mediterranean style diet were 40 percent more likely to get pregnant after treatment than those whose diet was least similar to the Mediterranean diet.
The study was observational meaning that the results do not mean a causal relationship between eating Mediterranean diet and increased odds of becoming pregnant although the possible effect of the diet may not be excluded either.
In the study, Dr. Regine P.M. Steegers-Theunissen of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam and colleagues treated the study subjects for infertility, one thirds of them receiving in vitro fertilization or IVF and the other one third intracytoplasmic sperm injection or ICSI.
Prior to treatment, the subjects were surveyed for their eating habits over the past month. The researchers were able to identify two dietary patterns among the women, the Mediterranean diet and the health conscious diet.
Steegers-Theunissen and colleagues found two-thirds of all the women who most closely adhered to the Mediterranean diet had a 30 percent chance to get pregnant after IVF or ICSI. This is compared to 25 percent for the rest one-third women whose diet was least close to the Mediterranean diet.
Both diets were similar. But the researchers explained that the Mediterranean diet contained more omega-6 fat and vitamin B6 than the health conscious diet. Both nutrients are good for becoming pregnant.
By Jimmy Downs
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