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Do Diet and Weight Affect Fertility?
Carolyn Gundell, Nutritionist, RMA of CT: Dietary choices and healthy lifestyles do affect our chances of conception, having a healthy pregnancy and also having a healthy baby.
Underweight individuals do experience difficulties becoming pregnant at times.
We do know also that overweight and obese men and women do have decreased chances of becoming pregnant as well.
When a patient is referred to a nutritionist, there are a few criteria that we look at.
We look at body mass index, which does measure the relative relationship between height and weight.
We also look at fat percentage, which is very key.
It does tell us whether or not the patient is storing fat.
And we also look at abdominal circumference: where the location of fat mass is.
That can have a direct effect on endocrine conditions and infertility as well.
When a patient wants to sit down with me and talk about their weight issues, it is very important to also assess whether or not there are other endocrine conditions going on, such as insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, PCOS, hyperthyroidism; these can also affect fertility.
What we do know is if we can look at decreasing fat percentage with overweight and obese patients, that it can certainly increase their chances of conception.
We also know that losing only about 5 to 10 percent of their total body weight can be extremely helpful and they could actually become pregnant.
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