Some women find it easy to get pregnant; others have a harder time. The reasons
why some couples are very fertile and some aren’t are not fully understood. It’s estimated
that 15 to 20 percent of couples in the United States have problems with infertility, with higher rates in older couples. Infertility is an equal-opportunity
problem: one-third of the time it can be traced to the woman, one-third of the time
to the man, and one-third to a combination of factors with both partners. About
80 percent of the time infertility can be traced to a specific cause.
For thousands of years people have speculated on the role food may play in fertility,
often believing certain foods make men more potent or women primed for
pregnancy. No single food has been found to help make a baby, and most of these
ideas are probably myths. However, nutrition can play a role in getting pregnant
because:
Your weight has an important role in your fertility.
• Following a balanced diet contributes to your overall health and fertility.
Weight and Fertility
Weighing too little or too much can affect your fertility. Your body exists in a balance—
you take energy into your body in the form of food, and you expend energy
through physical activity and the day-to-day maintenance of body organs and tissues.
If you constantly eat more than you expend—even by a small number of calories—
it can gradually add up to weight gain. Similarly, if you are very active but
limit your food intake, your weight will gradually decrease. Collectively, the systems
that control your energy balance are called your metabolism.
Your metabolic health is intrinsically linked to your reproductive health and
your ability to support a pregnancy. A woman’s fertility is highly sensitive to the
energy balance of her body and the health of her metabolism. The reproductive
system “listens” to messages from a woman’s metabolism in the form of hormones.
When some aspect of metabolism is abnormal, the resulting hormonal changes can
affect her fertility and ultimately the health of her pregnancy, because a woman’s
metabolism controls how nutrients are delivered to her baby.
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