Diet

Much attention is focused on the growing rates of obesity and how it affects a woman’s fertility. However, recent research and health care professionals are shedding light on the impact of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, which affect as many as 10 million women in the United States alone, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.

CGD, a blogger for FertilityAuthority, is a psychologist in private practice in New York City specializing in the treatment of eating and addictive disorders. "In my experience, medical professionals fail to raise issues related to fertility with eating disorder patients, even when symptoms such as amenorrhea are present,” she says. “Clearly, current medical stability is of primary concern; however infertility is typically glossed over when discussing long term health concerns, leading patients to believe that they have little to worry about in terms of their long term fertility."

In our latte-loving, Diet Coke-addicted, on-the-go society, caffeine is the world’s most popular pick-me-up drug of choice and the lifestyle factor that may be the hardest to give up when you’re trying to get pregnant. But research has shown that caffeine can affect your fertility and is linked to miscarriages. Here’s what you should know about caffeine and your ability to get pregnant.

Research on Caffeine and Fertility

In the most recent research, Sean Ward, a University of Nevada School of Medicine scientist, found that caffeine reduces muscle activity in the fallopian tubes, which carry eggs from a woman’s ovaries to her uterus. The study, which was published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, investigated the fallopian tubes of mice and discovered that caffeine stops the actions of specialized pacemaker cells in the wall of the tubes. These cells coordinate tube contractions — when the cells are inhibited, the eggs can't move down the tubes.