Trying to Get Pregnant?  The Right Diet and Exercise May Help

Infertility, defined as the inability to have a baby after a year of unprotected intercourse, affects millions of women in the United States. While the causes of infertility are many, there are several diet and exercise items to which women trying to conceive should pay attention, says Dr. Robert Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutritionist.

While everyone should do some exercise to stay healthy, heavy exercise can decrease fertility, he says.

"If you are a women who exercises vigorously more than seven hours a week, then you could be decreasing hormones that help you ovulate and conceive," Keith says. "In this case, cutting back on exercise amounts and intensity could help you get pregnant. In some cases you may have to go to very light exercising for a few months to see if conception chances can be improved."

Keith says having a very low or high body mass index (BMI = your weight in pounds x 702 divided by your height in inches x your height in inches) can also be a problem.

"A BMI less than 20 has been shown to decrease fertility," he says. "Women with low BMIs frequently have body fat values that are too low. This makes it difficult for them to conceive. Women with BMI values above 30 have difficulty getting pregnant due to altered hormone levels."

Cutting back on alcohol consumption may also help you get pregnant. According to a recent study, women who had just one alcoholic drink a day had more difficulty getting pregnant, and the more the women drank the more difficult it became for them to conceive, Keith says.

Women who had more than 10 drinks a week had half the conception rate as women who had five or fewer drinks a week. Women who did not drink at all had the highest levels of fertility.

High levels of caffeine consumption, mostly from drinking coffee, is another factor that probably causes a decrease in fertility, Keith says.

"Another large study found that women who drank five or more cups of coffee a day had lower conception rates than women who drank less coffee," he says. "A good recommendation would be not to drink more than two cups of coffee a day."

In addition to caffeine’s effects on conception, high intakes of coffee also have been associated with more first-trimester miscarriages.

"While most studies have been done with coffee drinkers, caffeine can be found in tea and over-the-counter products such as No-Doz," Keith says. "It probably would be wise to avoid these products when trying to get pregnant."

SOURCE: Dr. Robert Keith, (rkeith@aces.edu), Extension Nutritionist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, (334) 844-3273