Today I read an article in the current Newsweek magazine which had on its cover the title "Fertility and Diet - How what you eat affects your odds of getting pregnant."   I have to add that on the cover is a side shot of a totally nude pregnant woman which I thought was a little shocking for a "mainstream" magazine.  That aside, the article finally publicized and validated some common sense and it took three Harvard medical researchers to do it.

On the first page of the article, Fats, Carbs And the Science of Conception, the subtitle reads: "In a groundbreaking new book, Harvard researchers look at the role of diet, exercise and weight control in fertility.  Guarantee:  you will be surprised."  Almost instantly I could guess what this surprising information was going to be.   I thought, "Finally, they are going to suggest that woman who are having trouble conceiving eat more saturated fat in their diet, eat more whole grains and fruits and vegetables, and get more moderate exercise (like walking)."  You know what?  I was right!

Actually, as I wrote in an article on our Fair Hills Farm website,  four or five years ago I began studying Weston A. Price's book  Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, which was written almost 80 years ago.  Dr. Price noticed as he traveled throughout the world and studied people who still ate their traditional diets (and didn't consume the refined foods that Americans typically did), that those people were remarkably healthy, had healthy children, did not have the dental decay that many Americans did, and seemed to be happier people.  He examined people from Eskimos to folks living in the Swiss Alps to people on remote Islands as well as tribal people in Africa.  Though these peoples' diets varied because of locality, traditions and basically what was available to them, he found a few things they all had in common.   One main thing in common was that they all consumed plenty of saturated fats (in the form of animal fat, dairy fat, fish and oil which was native to their area) and any grain they consumed was unrefined.   Most diets were very simple, but were packed with nutrition.  It is fair to say they also probably got more exercise than the average sedentary American.

I was so struck with this information because it all made sense, and yet it  contradicted what the world and "medical science" was continually telling us.  We have been told over and over that whole milk is bad for you, that butter will clog your arteries, that meat is bad and margarine is good - that anything lowfat is good and anything that is saturated fat will kill you.  My friends, this is just not true.   Lowfat and NoFat is just not natural and furthermore, eating Lowfat and NoFat and synthetic food is not the way any healthy people ever ate ever before in history.   In fact, I read once that the ancient Hebrews were very fond of saturated fat.  I think the key is to enjoy eating good food, but moderation is the virtue!

Finally it dawns on some Harvard researchers that perhaps our diet in this nation might have something to do with fairly widespread fertility problems.  For some reason, the link between nutrition and conception has not been researched scientifically.  To quote the article, "Farmers, ranchers and animal scientists know more about how nutrition affects fertility in cows, pigs and other commercially important animals than fertility experts know about how it affects reproduction in humans.  There are small hints scattered across medical journals, but few systematic studies of this crucial connection in people." (Newsweek, Dec. 10, 2007.)

So the researchers studied a group of 18,000 women taking part in the Nurse's Health Study, which is a long-term project that studies the effects of diet on health and the development of various chronic diseases.   Each of the women were trying to conceive a baby, and many eventually did.  Of those that did not, the researchers discovered that many suffered from "ovulatory infertility," which means there is a problem with the maturation or the release of, a mature egg every month.  When the researchers compared their diet and lifestyle information with the participants who were able to conceive, they found some information which they translated into strategies to boost fertility.    The information they share in the Newsweek article is adapted from the book The Fertility Diet (by Jorge Chavarro, M.D., Walter C. Willett, M.D., and Patrick J. Skerrett.).

I will sumarize the information here, and you can either then read the article yourself, or get the book.  The first recommendation is to eat "slow carbs, not no carbs."   Basically, if you eat lots of  white bread, potatoes and sugared sodas, you are consuming lots of "fast carbs" and these tend to increase your chances of struggling with ovulatory infertility.  However, slowly digesting carbohydrates which contain fiber, such as whole wheat or dark breads, brown rice and pasta, can improve fertility.  It is also important to note that research shows that consuming these slow carbs before pregnancy can help stabilize mom's blood sugar and prevent gestational diabetes.

The next recommendation is the possibility that ovulatory infertility could be connected to not getting enough fat in the diet.  There hasn't been much research done in this area , but the little that has been done suggests that the more fat in the diet, "and in some cases saturated fat," the more improvement of the menstrual cycle.  The researchers said that the exact type of fat (saturated vs. polyunsaturated) wasn't as keenly studied, but one thing that was noted was that Trans Fat intake definitely caused problems.  The more Trans Fats consumed, the greater the chance of developing ovulatory infertility.  In fact,  to quote the researchers, "We saw an effect even at daily trans fat intakes of about four grams a day.  That is less than the average American gets each day.... To put this into perspective, for someone who eats 2,000 calories a day,  2 percent of calories translates into about 4 grams of trans fat.  That's the amount in two tablespoons of stick margarine, one medium order of fast-food french fries or one doughnut."  That is almost scary information, isn't it?   Throw out that margarine and get some real butter.

There is mention of The Protein Factor, and basically the researchers say that getting more protein from plants and less from animals seemed to be the better way to help fertility.  My take on this is that moderate amounts of protein from beef or chicken should not be bad, however, it would be ideal if we could see to it that it is grass-fed or pasture raised, not fed lots of soy protein or lots of corn or growth hormones which would wreak havoc on your hormones if you eat much of it.  Grass - fed beef has all the good substances in it and very little of what could ever be construed as bad.  Getting more protein from nuts and beans is still a good idea though, provided those are of good quality, too.   We have to remember too, that eggs, especially  fresh eggs from pastured chickens, also make healthy protein servings.

A really interesting bit of information was what the researchers had to say about full-fat dairy products and their effect on fertility.  According to the researchers, "The depth and detail of the Nurses' Health Study database allowed us to see which foods had the biggest effects.  The most potent fertility food from the dairy case was, by far, whole milk, followed by ice cream...The more low-fat dairy products in a woman's diet, the more likely she was to have had trouble getting pregnant.  The more full-fat dairy products in a woman's diet, the less likely she was to have had problems getting pregnant."

And then there was the mention of the roles of body weight and  the importance of exercise.  Concerning body weight, it was best not to be too thin or too overweight.  Both can hinder fertility.  Aiming for being at a healthy weight is the best thing to do in any case.  As for exercise, the researchers said that aiming for the fertility zone, which is atleast thirty minutes of exercise every day, is a good thing to do.  If you are not accustomed to exercising then, start walking 30 minutes a day, every day, even if it is around your yard (like I did for 4 years when we lived in Marion, Alabama).  You might find that the exercise and your ice cream for a snack might be the ticket!  But then, if you are into marathons and you are on the skinny side, maybe slow down and eat more ice cream and whole milk and put butter on your whole wheat bread!

I am glad these Harvard researchers took the time to study and learn on this issue and then make what amounts to common-sense suggestions to the public available.  I encourage anyone interested to read the article or get the book.  I have to say that I firmly believe that God is the God of conception, and no life comes about without His hand.  But we are to be good stewards of our bodies and our children's bodies not just for now, but for the sake of future generations.   Many times the answers to our dilemas are really quite simple.  A simple diet of healthy, good tasting food, moderate exercise, plenty of sleep and a joyful, thankful heart is very good medicine that everyone in this country should have.  I welcome any e-mail or questions to csread07@yahoo.com.

Blessings,

Chris