According to new research, certain dietary patterns could increase your fertility while others might take it down. This article examines this research and what it means for your health.
What Does The Study Say?
According to a cross-sectional study published in Nutritional Journal, a pro-inflammatory diet boosts the possibility of fertility issues in women by 86%.
How Was The Study Conducted?
The study involved a total of 4,437 women, with 411 suffering fertility challenges while 4,026 had no issues. Participants completed Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQs) to get their Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) score.
This score considers 45 food parameters, including fiber content, fat content, and vitamin content. The higher the DII score, the higher the percentage of pro-inflammatory foods in the participant’s daily diet.
After reviewing the data, researchers concluded that women with higher DII scores had an 86% possibility of fertility challenges than those with lower scores.
What Is A Pro-inflammatory Diet?
A pro-inflammatory diet involves eating foods that boost chronic inflammation in your body. Examples of pro-inflammatory foods include processed meats, refined sugars, and processed carbohydrates.
While the study did not list certain foods to consume or avoid, it’s advisable to eat more whole and natural foods. The researchers said their findings show a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vegetable fibers and, low in saturated fats and high simple sugars could be an ideal way to reduce infertility risk.
That said, there is no universally effective anti-inflammatory diet. However, you can replace processed foods and refined sugars with natural, fiber-rich items. You can also start making changes with these tips:
● Reduce saturated fat to 10% of your daily calorie intake.
● Eat more foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids
● Eat at least 25 grams of fiber daily
● Use healthy cooking oils and less seed oils
You should also consider that other factors, such as lack of daily movement, stress, and poor sleep quality, cause chronic inflammation. As such, you should consider improving your overall lifestyle rather than just focusing on your diet.
Conclusion
While multiple factors contributing to fertility could be beyond your control, your food choices could play a key role. With the above study stating that pro-inflammatory foods could affect your fertility by 86%, you should be more committed to eating anti-inflammatory foods.
In addition to improving your diet, you can also improve your lifestyle by getting better sleep and increasing your daily movement.
