By Mark Messina, PhD, MS, Want to hear more about fertility factors from the author of our lead article, Mark Messina, PhD, MS? Read More

By Elizabeth Ward, MS, RD, A growing body of evidence suggests what women eat influences conception and pregnancy outcomes. While women become pregnant on a variety of diets, nutri­ent-rich, plant-based eating patterns are associated with a greater likelihood for conception. In the Nurses’ Health Study II, women who ate more of certain foods and sup­plements experienced a lower rate of ovulatory disorder infertility, one of the leading causes of infertility in wom­en. Regardless of weight, age, and parity, consuming more of these items seemed beneficial: vegetable protein sourc­es, monounsaturated fats rather than trans fats, low gly­cemic carbohydrates, full-fat dairy foods, multivitamins, iron from plant foods, and from dietary supplements that contain iron. Read More

By Mark Messina, PhD, MS, The fact that concerns have been raised about soy adversely impacting both male and female fertility seems inconsistent with the knowledge that China is the birthplace of the soybean,1 foods made from soybeans have been consumed there for centuries,1 and the current population of China is approximately 1.4 billion. Read More