Mediterranean diet could boost IVF success, reveals study

Foods that typically form part of a Mediterranean diet such as avocados and olive oil could potentially help women who are trying to conceive through IVF.

A study carried out by at Harvard School of Public Health and funded by the US National Institutes of Health, has revealed that mothers who ate high amounts of a specific fat had a higher than normal rate of conception.

Monounsaturated fat – found in olive oil, sunflower oil, a variety of nuts and seeds and various other foods – was found to be far superior to any other form of dietary fat for women attempting to conceive using IVF.

According to the results of the study, which has recently been presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Istanbul, women who consumed the highest amount of this fat were approximately 3.4 times more likely to conceive a child post IVF than women who ate the smallest amounts.

Whilst the exact reasoning behind the impact of the fat is unknown, experts behind the study are of the belief that the monounsaturated fats – which have already been found to protect the heart – could work by lowering inflammation within the body.

Professor Jorge Chavarro who lead the study commented that whilst the study was only small scale, the findings definitely warrant further and more in depth investigation.

‘While these results are interesting, this is the first time to our knowledge that dietary fats have been linked to treatment outcome in IVF,’ he said.

Though it is likely to be some time before we discover if this kind of diet can truly have an impact on IVF treatment, what we do know with certainty is that whilst undergoing IVF the body should be in tip-top condition.

Maintaining a healthy balanced diet will help to ensure that your well-being is at its optimum level, and could help to provide your body with good foundations and the strength needed to give yourself the best chance of conception.

For information about Healthy Eating, visit our full fact-sheet to find out more.

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