In this country, 1 in 8 couples find themselves struggling to get pregnant or sustain a pregnancy, (1) What should be a joyful, exciting, natural event, is instead stressful, frustrating, and completely elusive to others. While there are certainly a number of different factors that can affect fertility and prevent a couple from successfully conceiving, nutrition – and the consequences of poor nutrition – can be a huge contributing factor in the baby-making game.
So, just what does nutrition have to do with it? Good nutrition typically means good health. Good health means good/better/proper body function. Often, whether it be infertility or any number of other medical issues or dysfunction, poor and inadequate nutrition plays a significant (and modifiable!) role. When a couple or woman decides they/she are ready for the major life change of a baby, the first consideration should be the health of “mom” and “dad”. A healthy mom and dad = an increased likelihood of a healthy baby. The stress and changes of pregnancy are tough enough; adding them to a whole host of other health issues is just asking for both an uncomfortable pregnancy and a possibly unhealthy mom and baby. With that said, step one of proper fertility management is getting yourself and your partner ready.
Many reading this might be female. And of those females reading, a lot of you may think that infertility is a female issue. “If I can’t get pregnant, it must be my fault!”, right? In reality, infertility is pretty indiscriminate when it comes to gender. About 1/3 of infertility is attributed to the female partner. Another 1/3 is associated with the male partner. The final third is typically a combination of problems, with a joint “effort” by both partners, or is unexplained. (2) In both male and female partners, however, weight has a contributing effect. Both obesity/overweight AND underweight have been correlated with a increased risk of infertility, regardless of gender. (3,4) Increased weight, beyond the healthy range (a BMI of <25, where BMI is one’s weight in kg divided by one’s height in meters squared – there are also helpful BMI calculators online!) usually causes other unhealthy side effects beyond the extra stress on your joints and waistband. Abdominal obesity (caring the extra fat around your midline) is especially problematic. For women, this correlates with a waist circumference >35 inches; in men, a circumference >40 inches.
One of the most common consequences of this excess fat is insulin resistance. In other words, your body’s ability to recognize and utilize insulin, the hormone necessary to get sugar out of the blood and into the cells to be used for energy, is compromised. This means one’s blood sugar levels become chronically high, as the sugar is unable to get out of the blood and into the cells where it is actually wanted and needed. Not only can this condition lead to type II diabetes, but where fertility is concerned, it can impair ovulation. While it is not my goal in this post to go into the details of how baby-making actually works on a physiological level, suffice to say that no ovulation = no baby. Ovaries and fat cells regulate ovulation be regulating estrogen, the primary hormone involved in ovulation. When you’re too thin, insufficient estrogen is produced, because insufficient fat cells are available (see? fat is good; it just has to be in balance with everything else!). When you’re overweight/obese, too much estrogen is produced (consequence of too many fat cells), which also negatively affects ovulation. (5)
On the male side of things, obesity and overweight also have a negative effect on sperm. Overweight and obese men have an increased rate of sperm DNA damage. (4) Again, defective sperm = defective fertility. Additionally, the sperm concentration and quality is compromised in men with a BMI equal to or greater than 25. And, if those two factors weren’t enough, sperm motility is also reduced when men are overweight or obese. (4) To sum up, if your swimmers are damaged, few in number, and sluggish, your chances of baby-making success are severely decreased. Excess body fat results in excess inflammation. Many of the diseases/comorbidities associated with overweight and obesity are consequences of chronic, unchecked inflammation (hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, chronic pain, increased arthritis discomfort). Increased inflammation and oxidative stress, a consequence of increased stress from increased inflammation, lead to increased DNA damage. If the DNA one partner is contributing is damaged, the chances of success are not only severely reduced, but the risk of an unhealthy baby or miscarriage are also increased.
Beyond inhibiting pregnancy outright, overweight/obesity, and the consequences of this increased body fat, also increases the risk of miscarriage, diabetes-related congenital malformations, and preeclampsia, as well as type II diabetes. (6) So the risks are not limited to merely infertility. In other words, just because you might be able to get pregnant despite you or your partner being overweight/obese, the potential for severe and modifiable complications is far from over. Yes, type II diabetes, preeclampsia, and miscarriage are all real risks of ANY pregnancy, terrifying risks that every couple will be anxious about at some point during a pregnancy. However, if there was something you could do to mitigate and reduce those risks, why wouldn’t you pursue it? Especially something like achieving a healthy body fat mass, which will not only have a positive impact on your ability to conceive and produce a healthy baby, but will also influence your own personal health and future wellness.
As you can see from the title of this post, this is part I of at least a two-part fertility post. Obviously, this first part is already quite lengthy and different from my usual posts. This first post focuses on why it’s important to be healthy before trying to conceive, both for you and your partner, and what a significant impact body weight can have on your fertility. The next post will focus on the nutrients that promote conception (and can encourage infertility if deficient in the diet), how they help with a healthy pregnancy, and where to get them. Infertility is certainly not always a nutrition problem, but pursuing, achieving, and maintaining good nutrition is never a bad decision.
(1) Resolve The National Infertility Association: http://www.resolve.org/about/fast-facts-about-fertility.html
(2) www.asrm.org
(3) Szostak-Wegierek D. Nutrition and fertility. Europe Pubmed. 2011. http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/22516697
(4) Dupont C, Faure C, Sermondade N, Boubaya M, Eustache F, Clement P, Briot P, Berthaut I, Levy V, Cedrin-Durnerin I, Benzacken B, Chavatte-Palmer P, & Levy R. Obesity leads to higher risk of sperm DNA damage in infertile patients. 2013. Asian J Androl. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3881654/
(5) Fertility-Boosting Foods: http://www.healthywomen.org/content/article/fertility-boosting-foods
(6) Poston L, Igosheva N, Mistry HD, Seed PT, Shennan AH, Rana S, Karumanchi SA, & Chappell LC. Role of oxidative stress and antioxidant supplementation in pregnancy disorders. 2011. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Many reading this might be female. And of those females reading, a lot of you may think that infertility is a female issue. “If I can’t get pregnant, it must be my fault!”, right? In reality, infertility is pretty indiscriminate when it comes to gender. About 1/3 of infertility is attributed to the female partner. Another 1/3 is associated with the male partner. The final third is typically a combination of problems, with a joint “effort” by both partners, or is unexplained. (2) In both male and female partners, however, weight has a contributing effect. Both obesity/overweight AND underweight have been correlated with a increased risk of infertility, regardless of gender. (3,4) Increased weight, beyond the healthy range (a BMI of <25, where BMI is one’s weight in kg divided by one’s height in meters squared – there are also helpful BMI calculators online!) usually causes other unhealthy side effects beyond the extra stress on your joints and waistband. Abdominal obesity (caring the extra fat around your midline) is especially problematic. For women, this correlates with a waist circumference >35 inches; in men, a circumference >40 inches.
One of the most common consequences of this excess fat is insulin resistance. In other words, your body’s ability to recognize and utilize insulin, the hormone necessary to get sugar out of the blood and into the cells to be used for energy, is compromised. This means one’s blood sugar levels become chronically high, as the sugar is unable to get out of the blood and into the cells where it is actually wanted and needed. Not only can this condition lead to type II diabetes, but where fertility is concerned, it can impair ovulation. While it is not my goal in this post to go into the details of how baby-making actually works on a physiological level, suffice to say that no ovulation = no baby. Ovaries and fat cells regulate ovulation be regulating estrogen, the primary hormone involved in ovulation. When you’re too thin, insufficient estrogen is produced, because insufficient fat cells are available (see? fat is good; it just has to be in balance with everything else!). When you’re overweight/obese, too much estrogen is produced (consequence of too many fat cells), which also negatively affects ovulation. (5)
On the male side of things, obesity and overweight also have a negative effect on sperm. Overweight and obese men have an increased rate of sperm DNA damage. (4) Again, defective sperm = defective fertility. Additionally, the sperm concentration and quality is compromised in men with a BMI equal to or greater than 25. And, if those two factors weren’t enough, sperm motility is also reduced when men are overweight or obese. (4) To sum up, if your swimmers are damaged, few in number, and sluggish, your chances of baby-making success are severely decreased. Excess body fat results in excess inflammation. Many of the diseases/comorbidities associated with overweight and obesity are consequences of chronic, unchecked inflammation (hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, chronic pain, increased arthritis discomfort). Increased inflammation and oxidative stress, a consequence of increased stress from increased inflammation, lead to increased DNA damage. If the DNA one partner is contributing is damaged, the chances of success are not only severely reduced, but the risk of an unhealthy baby or miscarriage are also increased.
Beyond inhibiting pregnancy outright, overweight/obesity, and the consequences of this increased body fat, also increases the risk of miscarriage, diabetes-related congenital malformations, and preeclampsia, as well as type II diabetes. (6) So the risks are not limited to merely infertility. In other words, just because you might be able to get pregnant despite you or your partner being overweight/obese, the potential for severe and modifiable complications is far from over. Yes, type II diabetes, preeclampsia, and miscarriage are all real risks of ANY pregnancy, terrifying risks that every couple will be anxious about at some point during a pregnancy. However, if there was something you could do to mitigate and reduce those risks, why wouldn’t you pursue it? Especially something like achieving a healthy body fat mass, which will not only have a positive impact on your ability to conceive and produce a healthy baby, but will also influence your own personal health and future wellness.
As you can see from the title of this post, this is part I of at least a two-part fertility post. Obviously, this first part is already quite lengthy and different from my usual posts. This first post focuses on why it’s important to be healthy before trying to conceive, both for you and your partner, and what a significant impact body weight can have on your fertility. The next post will focus on the nutrients that promote conception (and can encourage infertility if deficient in the diet), how they help with a healthy pregnancy, and where to get them. Infertility is certainly not always a nutrition problem, but pursuing, achieving, and maintaining good nutrition is never a bad decision.
(1) Resolve The National Infertility Association: http://www.resolve.org/about/fast-facts-about-fertility.html
(2) www.asrm.org
(3) Szostak-Wegierek D. Nutrition and fertility. Europe Pubmed. 2011. http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/22516697
(4) Dupont C, Faure C, Sermondade N, Boubaya M, Eustache F, Clement P, Briot P, Berthaut I, Levy V, Cedrin-Durnerin I, Benzacken B, Chavatte-Palmer P, & Levy R. Obesity leads to higher risk of sperm DNA damage in infertile patients. 2013. Asian J Androl. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3881654/
(5) Fertility-Boosting Foods: http://www.healthywomen.org/content/article/fertility-boosting-foods
(6) Poston L, Igosheva N, Mistry HD, Seed PT, Shennan AH, Rana S, Karumanchi SA, & Chappell LC. Role of oxidative stress and antioxidant supplementation in pregnancy disorders. 2011. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition