Friday Aug 08, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- A Polish article suggests that some dietary components can help improve fertility in women while others may damage their fertility.  Infertility is estimated to affect 13 to 17% of couples of reproductive age.

The article also claims that a woman's diet can affect her reproductive health and good nutrition can decrease her risk of fertility disorders.  Specifically, the article says that monounsaturated fatty acids which are high in peanut oil, sunflower oil and safflower oil, and Oliver oil, fruit and vegetables with high protein and nonheme iron can improve women's fertility while trans-fat and carbohydrate based foods with a high glycaemia index can reduce their fertility.

Iron and folate supplements are also helpful.

A diet that is modified to include the beneficial food components and exclude the detrimental food components can help increase the effectiveness of fertility treatment. (David Liu)

Si?ska B, Kucharska A, Dmoch-Gajzlerska E.  [The diet in improving fertility in women].  Pol Merkur Lekarski. 2014 Jun;36(216):400-2.