Tag: diet

Fertility Clock Blog, My Future Baby Blog

Caffeine Counts

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Practitioners at Tao of Wellness often ask their patients to reduce or eliminate caffeine from their diet because its stimulating effects are counter-productive to their treatments.

Many people rely on regular consumption of excessive amounts of caffeine. While the drinker may only be aware of the pleasant “lift” that caffeine provides, it has many other effects throughout the body. Caffeine stimulates the nervous system, increases heart rate, blood pressure and possibly cholesterol. It raises blood sugar, and increases metabolism. Caffeine can also irritate the gastrointestinal tract, leading to decreased absorption of nutrients.

Avoiding caffeine is especially important for women who are trying to conceive because caffeine consumption may decrease female fertility, as well as being associated with increased incidences of miscarriages, low birth weight, and birth defects found in newborns. Caffeine overly stimulates and eventually depletes the adrenal glands which are associated with fertility and reproduction. Caffeine can also contribute to symptoms of pre-menstrual tension and menstrual cramping.

It is often difficult to have a sense of just how much caffeine you are consuming because companies are not required to reveal caffeine content on their product labels. A general recommendation is to keep caffeine intake to 40 milligrams per day or less. The following list will give you a general idea of how much caffeine is in commonly consumed beverages.

Approximate caffeine content, in milligrams, for eight ounces of beverage. Keep in mind that caffeine content can vary widely between different brands, brewing methods and serving sizes.

  • Brewed coffee 135 mg
  • Black Tea  40 mg
  • Cola  30 mg
  • Green Tea  20 mg
  • Decaffeinated coffee  5 mg
  • Hot Chocolate  5 mg
  • Decaffeinated Tea  2 mg
  • Herbal Tea  0 mg

For more information in Traditional Chinese Medicine go to Tao Of Wellness.

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Low Fat Diet May Ease Hot Flashes

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In addition to its other benefits, a low-fat diet may also reduce menopausal hot flashes and night sweats, new research has found.

Scientists studied 17,473 menopausal women who were not on hormone therapy. Forty percent were assigned to a low-fat dietary plan with increased intake of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. They met periodically with nutritionists to assure compliance. The rest ate their customary diets. All participants recorded night sweats and hot flashes with details about their severity.

Over all, women in the diet group were 14 percent more likely to eliminate these symptoms in the first year than those not on the diet, a difference that persisted after controlling for initial weight, smoking, ethnicity and other factors.

Read full article.

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More Evidence that Obesity may Lower IVF Success

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The odds of having a baby via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) may be lower for obese women than their thinner counterparts, two new studies find.

The studies, reported in the journal Fertility and Sterility, add to evidence suggesting that heavy women have a lesser chance of success with IVF — where a woman’s eggs are fertilized in a lab dish then implanted in her uterus.

Research shows that obese women may be less fertile than their thinner peers. But the evidence has been mixed on whether extra pounds can affect a woman’s odds of having a baby with IVF.

In the new studies, researchers at two different Massachusetts fertility centers found that overweight women were less likely to have a baby after IVF.

In one, the birth rate among both overweight and obese women was 23 percent, versus 42 percent among women at the lower end of the normal-weight range.

In the other study, the odds of success were lower only for obese women, and not those who were less overweight.

Of 477 women who were moderately obese, 22 percent had a baby. That compared with 30 percent of normal-weight women.

And the chances of success dipped with the severity of a woman’s obesity. Among the most obese women — about 100 pounds or more overweight — 15 percent had a baby.

The lead researcher on that study said there are still questions about the role of a woman’s weight in IVF success.

In some past studies, researchers have found that normal-weight and obese women have similar chances of having a baby, said Dr. Vasiliki A. Moragianni, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

But most of those studies were much smaller than this one, he said in an email.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/06/21/more-evidence-obesity-may-lower-ivf-success/#ixzz1yTM5bByc

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Unhealthy Lifestyle May Not Affect Sperm Count

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Men who smoke or drink or even do drugs may not be jeopardizing their fertility, says new study. Researchers say that unhealthy lifestyle might not affect the swimming sperms men produce.

“Despite lifestyle choices being important for other aspects of our health, our results suggest that many lifestyle choices probably have little influence on how many swimming sperm they ejaculate. For example, whether the man was a current smoker or not was of little importance. The proportion of men who had low numbers of swimming sperm was similar whether they had never been a smoker or a smoker who was currently smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day. Similarly, there was little evidence of any risk associated with alcohol consumption,” said Dr. Andrew Povey from the University of Manchester’s School of Community Based Medicine.

Read full article.

Fertility Headlines

Eat for two — even before there are two

Lorie A. Parch

There’s so much about trying to conceive that’s out of our control, so it always seems like truly good news to hear about something we can do that may make getting pregnant (and retaining a healthy pregnancy) a little more likely. That’s why our ears pricked up at new research out of the Netherlands: A new study appearing in the medical journal Human Reproduction looked at the diets of Dutch couples who were planning to get pregnant, and then specifically at 199 couples who’d undergone their first cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Since we’re already told you this is a story with good news, you might guess what the researchers found: The healthier a woman’s diet before she got pregnant, the better her odds were of an ongoing pregnancy following fertility treatment.  

Dutch dietary guidelines (what is defined there as a healthy diet) don’t vary a lot from what the U.S. government considers healthy (see ChooseMyPlate.gov for more on that), so this is good news for American women as well, since what we eat is one thing we can do something about, in a host of things we can’t influence. Says John Twigt, one of the study authors, from the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, in the Netherlands: “We would like to emphasize the fact that the preconception period is the window of opportunity to optimize the diet in couples planning pregnancy.”

What do you eat? Has your diet changed now that you’re TTC? What have you given up, and what foods have you added?

Author: 
Lorie A. Parch

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Popcorn: A fertility superfood?

Dr. Robert Greene

One of the best ways to boost fertility and have a healthy pregnancy is to make careful food choices. Nothing is more intimate than to swallow something and then digest it so that it becomes part of you. Yet most of us give little thought to what we eat. In today’s fast-paced lifestyle it’s critical that we also find tips that are practical so that people can incorporate healthy changes with less effort. That’s why when a good study comes along, I feel compelled to share it.

Recently, a study was presented at the American Chemical Society that revealed the potential health benefits of popcorn. Researchers found that popcorn contains more concentrated healthy antioxidants than fresh fruits and vegetables. Whole grains contain a group of chemicals called polyphenols which are able to capture free radicals and therefore protect your DNA and the proteins in your body from damage. More noteworthy, since these polyphenols are not soluble in water, they are more concentrated in dehydrated foods like uncooked popcorn so you get more of them with fewer calories. These are the same chemicals that make wine, tea, and chocolate of interest to health-conscious foodies.

What prompted researchers to investigate popcorn is that now that we know grains contain high concentrations of healthy chemicals and dietary fiber. In fact, popcorn is a completely unprocessed whole grain. As a result, one serving provides people with more than 70% of the minimal recommended daily intake. That’s more than most people in the U.S. get on a daily basis! So that’s another health benefit of this easy-to-find snack.

It is important to pay attention to how popcorn is prepared since that can be its downfall from the wellness promotion aspects. Using too much oil or covering it with the unhealthy fake butter—a.k.a. “movie theatre style”—are the worst ways to prepare a serving of popcorn. Air-popped popcorn is best since it is lowest in calories. Microwave popcorn often contains unhealthy trans fats as well as more calories. A healthy compromise is to cook popcorn on the stove in healthy canola/olive oil blend; about half the calories and the addition of some healthy omega-3 fats. Enjoy!

Robert Greene, M.D., FACOG, is a physician at the CNY Fertility Center in central New York and the author of Perfect Hormone Balance for Fertility, Perfect Hormone Balance for Pregnancy, and Happy Baby, Healthy Mom Pregnancy Journal. You can read Dr. Greene’s blog, The Greene Guide, and follow him on Twitter. This post was first published on Dr. Greene’s blog, and he kindly shared it with ConceiveOnline.com.

Author:

Dr. Robert Greene

Fertility Clock Blog, My Future Baby Blog

The Effect of Alcohol on Fertility

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The data regarding the effects of moderate alcohol intake on fertility is inconclusive at this time. The largest prospective studies conducted in Europe indicate that high levels of alcohol consumption are associated with greater difficulty conceiving.

One small Danish study identified a slight delay in conception even with alcohol ingestion of 5 drinks or less per week. However, this research relies on self-reporting of alcohol consumption which may be inaccurate. In many cases, the studies do not fully account for other factors that could be affecting fertility.

Don’t Overdo It

When you are attempting to conceive, taking a moderate approach to alcohol consumption is the wisest course of action. If having an occasional beer or glass of wine once or twice a week is part of your normal lifestyle, this is unlikely to have a significant effect on your ability to conceive. Drinking every day or consuming several drinks at one sitting is behavior you should avoid. High levels of alcohol can negatively affect many aspects of your health and is probably not good for eggs or sperm development either.

Alcohol and Pregnancy

If you think you might be pregnant, it’s time to stop consuming alcohol. Fetal harm from exposure to alcohol in the womb can lead to lifelong health problems. In fact, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) caused by maternal alcohol consumption is the leading identifiable cause of neuro-developmental disorders and birth defects in babies. No “safe level” of prenatal alcohol exposure has been identified, so pregnant women are advised to abstain from alcoholic beverages altogether.

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Soy Can Cool a Hot Flash

ASRM News and Research

Hot flashes, the most common menopause-related symptom, cause many women to seek foods and supplements touted to offer relief despite flimsy evidence. Now, according to the most comprehensive study to date, eating two servings of soy foods a day may help reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes.

Fertility Clock Blog, My Future Baby Blog

Preconception Health

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Getting pregnant and carrying a pregnancy to term is easiest when a woman’s overall health is optimized through appropriate self care. Here are the 5 main factors women can control to increase their fertility:

 

 

Nutrition
Eating a balanced diet promotes ideal health. In general, whole foods are the best choice. Women who avoid certain food groups due to dietary restrictions for health or other reasons may wish to consult with a nutritionist to ensure that they are still getting all the nutrients their body needs. Supplements such as prenatal rich in folic acid are recommended for women who want to get pregnant.
 
Harmful Substances
Women who smoke should stop as soon as possible since smoking delays the time to conception and can lead to early onset of infertility. Women who consume alcohol or caffeine in substantial quantities should cut back or cease using these substances to increase their overall wellbeing and lower the chance of miscarriage.
 
Weight Management
Maintaining a healthy body weight increases the chances of getting pregnant. It can also decrease the risk of miscarriage, birth defects, and gestational diabetes. Eating a moderate amount of nutritious food and exercising regularly is the best way to achieve sustainable weight loss and prepare for pregnancy.
 
Stress Reduction
High levels of chronic stress affect hormone levels in the body and may interfere with fertility. There are a variety of relaxation techniques that can help with stress reduction including yoga, acupuncture, and acupuncture massage. In general, simply taking time out to relax is a good course of action for relieving stress in preparation for getting pregnant.
 
Frequency and Timing of Intercourse
An egg is viable for less than 24 hours after ovulation. This means there is a narrow window of opportunity for fertilization. Couples who are trying to conceive should have sex daily or every other day during the 7 day time period ending on the day of ovulation.