Can Ice Cream Boost Fertility?

(WebMD)  Unexpected new data link low-fat dairy foods to infertility and high-fat dairy foods to better chances of getting pregnant.

The findings come from an eight-year study of 18,555 married female nurses by Harvard researcher Jorge E. Chavarro, M.D., Sc.D., and colleagues.

Chavarro tells WebMD he was surprised to find that:

Women who ate two or more weekly servings of low-fat dairy foods had an 85 percent higher risk of ovulation problems than women who ate one or fewer servings each week.

Women who ate one or more daily servings of high-fat dairy foods were 27 percent less likely to suffer ovulation problems than women who ate one or fewer servings each day.

"These findings were unexpected. We certainly were not expecting low-fat dairy to have an effect on ovulation," Chavarro says. "Clearly more research needs to be done before recommendations can be made for women."

He notes that while high-fat dairy foods seem to increase fertility, even modest servings have this effect.

"This should not signal women to get buckets and buckets of ice cream. That would be bad for fertility and bad for their overall health," Chavarro says.

Although the findings require confirmation, Chavarro is resigned to the fact that some women who want to get pregnant will switch from low-fat to high-fat dairy foods.

"If you want to try something like this, make it a temporary measure while trying to get pregnant, not a permanent lifestyle change," he warns.

"And a woman should eat high-fat dairy foods only when she maintains a stable caloric intake. So if you're going to do this, try to eliminate other high-saturated-fat foods from your diet."

Fertility expert Celia Dominguez, M.D., assistant professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University in Atlanta, notes that most of the women in the Harvard study were at near-normal weight.

Since obesity is a major factor for women with ovulation, she warns overweight women against gorging on ice cream.

"Nobody needs to run off to eat Haagen-Dazs to get pregnant," Dominguez tells WebMD. "But things like fat may not be as bad in a diet as perceived. We tell people balance is really important. I tell people to have some fat — no fat is no good — but balance is the key."

Gregory D. Miller, Ph.D., executive vice president for science and innovation at the National Dairy Council, notes that the Chavarro study linked low-fat dairy foods not to infertility in general, but only to a specific type of infertility.

"The government's dietary guidelines recommend three servings of low-fat milk and milk products a day for women as part of a healthy diet, but the guidelines also allow for so-called discretionary calories in whatever part of the diet a person chooses — and that includes higher-fat dairy products," Miller tells WebMD. "So bon appetit, ladies."

The study by Chavarro and colleagues appears in the Feb. 28 online issue of Human Reproduction.
By Daniel DeNoon
Reviewed by Louise Chang
2005-2006 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved

[ecuadoriana]

"People take about as much knowledge from stories like this as a Peanuts comic."
Posted by kwameB at 02:31 PM : Mar 01, 2007

HA ha ha :) LOL

Actually, the peanuts comic would be healthier!

[ademeyer]

Between this and the story about wine drinkers living four years longer than teetotallers, I am having a GREAT day!

[kwameb-2009]

I would love more detail in soft-sci stories like this.

Was it a controlled study?
Or did they just find women who ate fat and ones who didnt, and put them in 2 piles?

There could be 100 culturally-related factors for a woman who eats non-fat dairy: they may be more likely to be under-weight, they may consume more artificial sugars, more tofu, they might exercise more, drink less, smoke more etc...

The study is meaningless unless all other health factors are taken into account. People take about as much knowledge from stories like this as a Peanuts comic.

[petesis]

A word of warning... do not cross the La Leche League members. They are lunatic fanatics for nursing and you do not want them after you.

Me personally, I like women a little larger than is fashionable.

[us_infidel]

I'm starting a new ad campaign!
"Have s*x with me and I'll buy you an ice cream!"

:)

[changeit4]

jinxkity, I'm sure that the obese would just love to add another excuse to the repertoire for their condition.

"My weight is a symptom of food steroids and additives." While I agree that these substances can certainly not be inocuous, fat people are so because they eat too much and exercise too little.

Change the ratio, change your weight. It ain't easy but it's simple. They don't need victim cards to play or more excuses, they need to move!

So have a little ice cream. Relish it. Then drink some water and get moving.

[mikemcfee]

Hmm, imagine a woman's body saying that with some fat reserves that she will be able to concieve more readily than a woman that conforms more to the made up notion that thin is in, eats a no fat diet, and thinks fashion models have figures to be emulated. It's not the ice cream alone, but intake of a well balqanced diet that makes our bodies work properly. That means red meat, fatty foods, and heaven forbid, the occaisional hamburger and milk shake along with vegetables and water.
Mother figures throughout history and mythology are Rubinesque, not Twiggy-like. There is a reason. Miraculously, a new study tells us something we should already have known.
More "pop culture" health fixes.
Mike

[jinxkity]

Why would this surprise anyone? A woman's body needs a certain amount of fat for it to sustain pregancy. It's nature's way. Now, if only everyone would dig a little deeper into the obesity problem which is a result of pumping the meat supply with steroids and the milk supply with hormones. Steroids and hormones get us bigger, more milk producing livestock so why are we surprised that it also effects humans which consume it in the same way. Not to mention the association between steroids and violent behavor.

[ecuadoriana]

I don't believe it. It's just a ploy by the dairy industry to justify pumping the enslaved, lactating cows full of instant growth hormones. Then the american consumer falls for the "Got Milk?" campaign to increase their dairy consumption. "Got Money?" should really be the slogan.

"Cow milk for cow babies, human milk for human babies". Grown up humans should not be drinking the lactation of other species. I've known plenty of vegan women, myself included, who have had no trouble conceiving. It has nothing to do with the amount of dairy one consumes. It has to do with overall health, fitness & well being. Something most americans are severely lacking in.