A new book from Harvard researchers called “The Fertility Diet” is certain to offer hope to the six million couples in the United States alone who are struggling with infertility. Unfortunately, it isn’t going to help most of them.
The book, which I wrote about in my Well column in Tuesday’s Science Times, is based on research findings that apply only to women with irregular ovulation, which affects fewer than a third of infertile women. In addition, although the research shows strong associations between certain eating habits and fertility, the study wasn’t designed to test whether women who changed their diets are more likely to become pregnant.
The book authors note that even if the diet doesn’t boost a couple’s fertility, it promotes sound nutrition that is good before, during and after a pregnancy. While that is true, I wonder if the hype over “The Fertility Diet” will end up helping couples or merely add to their emotional burden.
“Infertility is an awful disease,’’ notes Dr. Jamie A. Grifo, director of the New York University Fertility Center. “My patients are as depressed as cancer patients. Your whole life view and picture of your world changes, and it’s devastating….You don’t need another layer of guilt about something you already feel beat up over.’’
What do you think? Will women now blame themselves for poor eating habits if they can’t conceive? Or is the book a useful tool for women to use to educate themselves about the links between nutrition and fertility? For my full article on “The Fertility Diet,” click here. Post your comments below.
Update: The authors of “The Infertility Diet” have written a letter commenting on my article about their book. To read it, see comment #73 below.
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Shameful that the Harvard boys are trying to cash in on the hopes of desperate women who will stop at nothing to have a baby. They must have also gotten their MBA’s, too. Infertility is not a ‘disease’, it’s a fact of life. Anyone who has ever raised livestock will know that 100% of the population doesn’t always ‘produce’. Why should humans be any different? What is sick is the neurosis society imposes on women when they physically cannot naturally bear offspring. Accept it. Get over it. Adopt.
— SandraDidn’t work for me!?!?!
— Jay Flanagan1. I dislike the old boys club of Harvard as much as the next person, but I believe a large amount of the fertility/body fat/diet research from there has been by a woman.
2. For women with ovulation problems that this book promotes to help–it’s nothing we haven’t heard before.
— RobynI do not think that we have the right to make decisions for others regarding their choice on receiveing fertility treatment, giving up or doing adoption, especially when the suggestions are from those who already has kids.
— Liu, TaiwanThe title of the book, “the fertility diet”, seemed to have suggested that the diet would enhance fertility in some ways. If there are not enough scientific data to support this notion, this book should not even be published at all. It would be considered as cheating.
However, let’s read the book and make the judgement after then.
I can not find the book in amazon though.
While maintaining a healthy diet and weight almost exactly like the one advocated in this book for my entire adult life, I still struggled with infertility, and ovulatory infertility at that. While I believe natural remedies or alternative therapies are helpful in many cases, for me what worked was modern Western medicine, period. Couples should not waste years simply adjusting their diets, and instead should do that PLUS visit a reproductive specialist, if they can afford it.
— SarahSandra, from your comment I assume you never experienced infertility. Please avoid telling people to “get over it [and] adopt” if you have not been through the experience yourself. Infertility is an extraordinarily difficult physical and psychological condition which is rarely understood by those who have not experienced it.
To Sandra - Infertility is a disease…and it affects us much like any other disease would affect people. If someone had cancer would you tell them it was a fact of life? That some people get sick and die and they should just accept it? Get over it? Not seek treatment? I think not. It is people with your thinking that cause infertiles so much pain on top of the pain of their disease.
— AmyI can’t quite understand the focus on fertility. With world population at 6 billion and the earth literally ripping at it’s seams, people should be focusing on NOT reproducing or really being part of the solution and adopting.
— SharonSandra - It’s unfortunate but very telling that you don’t understand the difference between humans and livestock. “Accept it.Get over it.Adopt.” sounds like you’re attempting to impose your beliefs on others.
Don’t you worry about us poor little ol’ infertiles, we are a strong group of men and women and we certainly don’t need your protection from any Havard studies or society. What you have written is hurtful and lacks the wonderful spirit of human compassion, not to mention any apparent knowledge about infertility.
— MaryMy concern is that these authors are taking a restrospective correlational study and coming up with a causal attribution conclusion. I’d like to see well designed, peer reviewed, replicated studies before making causal claims.
— MargeeThis book is likely to be read by women approaching their forties or older than that who suddenly decide they want a baby. Well, helloo! Wait that long, and of course you’re going to have fertility problems! There would be little need for such a book if women were having babies in their twenties as nature intended us to.
— AdeleI happen to be one of those women with irregular ovulation, and for me, this book is a welcome addition to the conversation of fertility. When going through a process during which one has so little control, it helps sometimes to be able to do small, simple things — taking prenatal vitamins, folic acid, calcium, and exercising– that have a chance (however small) of helping. I certainly would be more likely to beat myself up about things if I simply went through the medical treatments and did nothing in my own life to improve my quality of living ….
Relying solely on drugs when our own bodies have such capacity for change and self-healing is always a mistake. The tradition of Ayurveda, with which I am familiar, is based on the recognition that your eating habits, your mental state of mind, and the level of your physical activity affect your body and often cause medical conditions and imbalances.
Of course, I think that every book which touts a panacea for any medical condition should be taken with a grain of salt. I’d really hope that women like myself would approach such publications and take away from it the message that it’s important to take care of our bodies and that if we do, we’re bound to have healthier lives. If along the way, it helps us balance our hormonal levels, well and good. But too much faith in one approach - such as eating ice-cream (think of the side effects of that!) - is a dangerous thing.
Just my two cents.
mommyinwaiting.blogspot.com
— mommy in waitingI suffer (ed) from PCOS and a large part of the treatment was a similar diet. Since I’m now successfully pregnant - after a significant amount of time trying, I would say that it worked for me.
More than that, it kept me from wallowing in self pity because every day I could feel that I was taking control of some aspect of my infertility, and I think that that mental aspect of it was invaluable.
Plus, once I got pregnant, I was in the best shape I had been in for years.
From TPP — I think this issue of gaining some control is an interesting point and one I hadn’t thought of. Thanks to you and the previous commenter for bringing it up
— AliHow is it shameful when it’s just a healthier diet? At least they aren’t giving DES or Thalidimide like the old days. Does nobody notice the alarming rates of cancer in women who’ve undergone fertility drugs? Now that’s shameful.
— LauraWhile I haven’t read the book or followed their diet, I have changed my food intake based on Traditional Chinese Medicine principles. Based on my symptoms, I cut out all dairy, all caffeine, all raw food and added more beef to my diet. I also took multiple supplements and have been working with a reputable acupuncturist. One month later, I just found out I am pregnant after 2 years of unexplained infertility.
Understanding that a change in diet could work for women with irregular ovulation, I think this book could help some women. My fear is that the general American public will think ‘eating full fat ice cream will get me pregnant’ without any regard for the rest of the books recommendations.
— LaceyAfter losing 20 lbs and getting down to a healthy weight, I became pregnant and now have a wonderful child. I have had irregular ovulation my entire life, and struggled to get pregnant. Losing the weight wasn’t my strategy to get pregnant, but I firmly believe that that’s what helped. As far as specific diets - high fat, etc - I personally don’t believe that. By the way, I gained back those 20 lbs (and 5 more) and struggle again to lose it to conceive baby #2.
— nancyAdele — obviously you are misinformed. My husband and I have been trying to conceive a child since I was in my twenties. I have been diagnosed with “premature menopause.” Now that we have been struggling with this for 10 years and I am 10 years older, people like you assume it is because we “waited.” It is a myth that infertility only happens to people that “wait” to begin a family. You can be a teenager and be infertile. Infertility is a medical condition. Before you start spouting out ignorant uneducated thoughts — get your facts straight.
— KathrynSandra & Sharon - As someone who is going through the pain of infertility, I can tell you a few things: 1) Infertility is a disease 2) Despite the world population, the individual desire to reproduce is overwhelming and should be respected. Unless you have suffered, you don’t know the pain this condition causes. But empathy would always be appreciated.
One of the issues that I have with this diet is that the Harvard team nor anyone else advocating dietary changes, tells you how long to try this before seeking medical advice. With so many women trying to conceive in the 30’s, I think there should be some sort of warning about how much time one should devote to diet changes alone.
My Reproductive Endocrinologist has been recommending South Beach for PCOS and weight control. I think ulitmately its a balancing act for infertile women between maintaining a healthy diet and also not stressing too much about it at an already stressful time. My advice, take care of yourself, try to eat healthy but don’t beat yourself up if you want a piece of cake after another failed fertility treatment.
— LauraI’ve read that green peas are a natural contraceptive.
— StephenAdopt. Just relax. Change your diet. Prop your hips up. Do meditation. We did all of the right things, and we even planned to adopt later anyway, so we went ahead and started the process. Nevertheless, those of you out there who can have children so easily have no idea of the pain of infertility. Of multiple miscarriages. Of no explanation. Let’s clarify some things.
1) Fertility drugs do not cause cancer; studies done were inconclusive. Studies do show that if you get your tubes tied, you reduce your risk, as does pregnancy and birth control, so why don’t we all get our tubes tied, use birth control, or…get pregnant?
2) Some issues with infertility can be resolved by changes in diet, increasing your weight or decreasing your weight– but not all. As someone in the unexplained category (healthy weight, yogi, lover of fruits, veggies and whole grains, IN MY TWENTIES, with no family history of genetic disease and no reproductive system problems that we could find), please don’t tell me that I can be cured through diet.
3) This is a very personal choice. We still plan to adopt, but I am now 8 months pregnant with our very healthy first child through FERTILITY TREATMENTS (yes, drugs, intervention, the whole shebang). In the meantime, those who want to use me to promote their agenda on world population or adoption policy…just…don’t. That’s the slope upon which we find eugenics and forced sterilization.
Thank you to Tara Parker-Pope for a thoughtful column.
— LeahI am just shocked at how polarizing the topic of infertility can be. How is it that the same arguments continue to come up and become arguments?:
— Lacey1. Infertility is not a disease.
2. Just adopt. (Said to me by someone who has NOT adopted children themselves)
3. Infertility is not that big of a deal or the harshest I have seen yet ‘Get over it’.
4. How selfish of you to want kids of your own. (Said to me by someone who has 4 kids).
When reading comments on articles on infertility, it is always easy to tell whose life has been touched by infertility and whose has not been touched mostly because the untouched say the most ignorant things. If you want to attack people for adding to the population problem, try attacking people like the Duggars who have 17 biological children, not the infertile who are struggling to have one. If you are worried about all the orphans in the world needing homes, do a little research on the expense and difficulty of adoption before you tell the infertile to “just adopt”. And Sandra your argument that humans are like cattle is specious and not worthy of further comment. The fact of the matter is that infertility is a devastating disease and anyone who thinks we should “just get over it” needs to try walking in our shoes before they judge us.
— ReggieIf we are to leave our lives up to nature by rejecting fertility treatments, then we should also reject the other scientific advances that have allowed most of us to be here: antibiotics, vaccination, the Green Revolution, medecine, machines. Leave it “as nature intended” and watch most of any children that you might be able to produce die before age 5, like children still do in today’s poorest nations.
— ZachIt seems to me that part of the reason fertility is so important to many people is that our society still equates fertility with prosperity and happiness. From what I can see, infertile women and men can both experience intense psychological challenges, as well as physical. Maybe if our society placed less importance on reproducing, the psychological pain would be lessened. I’m not sure how we can change that, though.
— mariaI think many of the actions recommended in this book should be taken by anyone who wants to be healthy, not just those wishing to increase their fertility. Our reactionary approach to medical treatment ought to be a more preventative one. A healthy diet isn’t just a fix for a given condition after it’s been diagnosed. It should be the standard with which our children our raised in the first place–not with the mindset of preserving their future fertility, but with that of effectively nourishing the whole person.
I wouldn’t rip Sandra apart.
While stating it baldly, she raises an interesting point. When it comes down to it, we’re all animals. I see what she’s saying. We remove Darwinism, layer by layer, from our species, and what happens if pretty soon we’re all only able to reproduce like the Thanksgiving turkeys mentioned in that NY Times article, via artificial insemination?
Instead of being angry at Sandra, I think we’d be better served to look at the reasons why women wait until later when they’re less fertile to conceive. Education, careers, and doing enough things when you’re young to avoid a midlife crisis - or foisting your dreams on your future kids - are huge factors. Instead of attacking each other as livestock with a disease, a defect, or devoid of feeling, let’s get to work reconfiguring the workforce. Make it ok to get a degree, have a few kids, and move back into the workforce at an acceptable pay level… you know, things like that.
Attacking each other won’t get us anywhere. And that book? Yeah, I’m sure it makes some good points, because eating veggies is never bad for you. But does anyone really know how that whole system works? No. I mean, if you’re underweight, you stop ovulating. If you’re overweight, your fertility decreases as well. If you have kids when you’re too young, it’s not healthy. if you have kids when you’re too old, you face another host of problems. The reproductive system, like every other biological system, is not one extreme or another; it’s poised. The whole thing is a balance, which makes me think there’s never one hard and fast way to make it work.
Like everything else in life that you try, you give yourself the best possible chance you can right now. Kind of like sports. It sounds like this book gives you a solid diet to put you in a good place to succeed, but just as I wouldn’t rely solely on eating well to prepare for a fencing tournament, I wouldn’t think of it as a cure-all. It’s definitely a key component for success, but I wouldn’t bank on just eating well.
— M.Infertile patients as depressed as those who have cancer? What a ridiculous statement, and shame on anyone who wraps himself/herself in such self-pitying nonsense. I’m sure cancer patients, and others with terminal illnesses, would love to have a “disease” that renders them childless but alive to seek other options.
Fifty years ago, couples accepted the fact that neither God nor Nature intended for everyone to be fertile. Those couples either adopted (and not always newborns) or accepted the fact and made satisfying lives for themselves. Today’s “me, me, me” grownups really don’t want to parent - they want to be PREGNANT. Otherwise they would adopt children who yearn for a family as desperately as these people say they yearn for children.
Mu husband and I are childless. Thirty years ago, we accepted that - in the grand scheme of things - we weren’t meant to have our own children, and we have had a wonderful life. Here’s a news flash - both of us would have traded our fertility long ago to have lost loved ones still with us.
— Robin Amerine