Are you struggling with infertility?

Infertility is big business. According to data released in 2008 by Marketdata, an independent market research publisher, the “Baby Business” is worth $4 billion.

Many women (including me) have delayed childbirth to pursue careers and are in need of assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures such as IVF to get pregnant. However, it is not easy to afford. Each IVF cycle can cost around $12,000 and many women require several cycles in order to be successful. Since only 14 states mandate insurance coverage (2008 report), this is paid out of pocket…” according to Research Director, John LaRosa. I went to see 4 different doctors and 3 out of 4 insisted on IVF without asking my lifestyles and/or diet. The last doctor was a Holistic gynecologist, so she did a lot of blood test on me. Very fortunately, I got pregnant without any treatment.

In December 2007, Newsweek issued an article “Fat, Carbs and the Science of Conception” which  referred to a book, “The Fertility Diet” by Jorge Chavarro MD, Walter Willett MD, and Patrick Skettett. It talked about the importance of eating slow carbs, plant based protein, and full fat dairy instead of low or nonfat one. I totally believe that diet, and eating habits contributes to your fertility.

Moreover, last week, a joint American and Spanish study reported that junk food can make healthy men infertile by damaging their sperm. All the men were assessed to ensure they were in optimum shape and had no other problems that may affect their reproductive system. The sperm of men with poor diets were found to be less likely to survive the journey to fertilize an egg, even if the men were a healthy weight and exercised.

So those men who were tested were not obese (the Newsweek article mentioned that some studies indicate that overweight men aren’t as fertile as their healthy weight counterparts). Even though you are in shape, as long as you are eating “Junk Food”, the success rate is low. I’ve heard often that men don’t want to do sperm test and believe that their partner has the problem. If you are trying to have a baby, the first thing you might need to look into may not be those famous IVF doctors, but your diet.