Table. 2.
Table. 2.
Summary of literature on the association between diet and female fertility
| Nutritional factors | Findings | References |
|---|---|---|
| Dietary patterns | Healthy dietary patterns (MedDiet and PD) have been shown to improve the chance of pregnancy and ART outcomes. Unhealthy diets (WestDiet) had the opposite relationship. | Toledo et al. (2011); Karayiannis et al. (2018); Garruti et al. (2019); Gaskins et al. (2019) |
| Proteins | High-fat dairy products may increase risk of infertility whereas non-dairy protein (fish and white meat) have an important influence on female fertility. | Braga et al. (2015); Kim et al. (2017); Souter et al. (2017); Wise et al. (2018) |
| Dietary fats | TFAs may increase risk of metabolic disorders that negatively affect ovarian functions; however, ω-3FAs improve fecundability. | Fontana and Della Torre (2016); Gaskins et al. (2018); Wise et al. (2018) |
| Carbohydrates | Current evidence, though limited, suggest that diets with low-GL that contain high amounts of whole grains may benefit fecundity. | Liese et al. (2003); Blomhoff (2005); Gaskins et al. (2016); Chiu et al. (2018) |
| Antioxidants | Antioxidants might provide benefit for subfertile women. | Showell et al. (2020) |
| Vit D supplement | Vit D may be beneficial only for women with disorders like PCOS, insulin resistance, or low anti-Mullerian hormone levels. | Jukic et al. (2015); Somigliana et al. (2016); Muscogiuri et al. (2017); Arslan and Akdevelioğlu (2018); Mumford et al. (2018) |
| Fa and Zn supplement | Fa and Zn may decrease the risk of ovulatory infertility, sporadic anovulation, and TTP. | Cueto et al. (2016); Chiu et al. (2018) |
| Zn and Se supplement | Zn and Se may reduce TTP and risk of subfertility. | Grieger et al. (2019); Maeda et al. (2019) |
| Cu | Cu does not have an important influence on female infertility. | Bawa and Tyagi (2017) |
| Hg | Intake of fish with high levels of Hg may be of concern to women planning pregnancy or pregnant women. | Maeda et al. (2019); Zhu et al. (2020) |
| Fe | Heme-Fe was much more associated with fecundability than non-heme Fe. | Hahn et al. (2019) |
| LC supplement | LC may improve PCOS, amenorrhea disorders, sex hormone levels, oocyte health, as well as TAC and lipid peroxidation. | Genazzani et al. (2011); Samimi et al. (2016); life’sDHA (2020) |
| Beverages | High intake of beverages (alcohol, caffeine, and SSBs) increases the risk of infertility. | Schliep et al. (2015); Mikkelsen et al. (2016); Lyngsø et al. (2017); Machtinger et al. (2017); Arvizu Boy et al. (2018); Hatch et al. (2018) |
MedDiet, Mediterranean diet; PD, Prudent diet; ART, assisted reproductive technology; WestDiet, Western diet; TFA, trans fatty acid; ω-3FA, omega-3 fatty acid; GL, glycemic load; Vit D, vitamin D; PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome; Fa, folic acid; Zn, zinc; TTP, time to pregnancy; Se, selenium; Cu, copper; Hg, mercury; LC, L-carnitine; TAC, total antioxidant capacity; SSB, sugar-sweetened beverage.
Prev Nutr Food Sci 2021;26:109~120 https://doi.org/10.3746/pnf.2021.26.2.109
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