New study: Coffee, alcohol or cigarettes reduce
the chances of pregnancy
Over the last 20 years, there have been
numerous studies that have looked at the impact of lifestyle on fertility and
miscarriage. Several studies in the 1980s and 1990s have shown that caffeine
reduces fertility, the ability to get pregnant and increases the risk of
miscarriage . More recently, a large, well performed study found that even small
amounts of caffeine can cause miscarriage. Women who drank large amounts of
caffeine had almost double the risk for miscarriage.
Other studies have demonstrated that drinking
alcohol is linked with infertility and that smoking is associated with
infertility and reduces In vitro fertilization pregnancy rates.
New study on lifestyle and fertility
A new study presented at the European Society
for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) has again found that drinking
caffeine during pregnancy is as bad as alcohol use or being obese and could
significantly decrease a woman's chances of getting pregnant. In the study,
drinking large amounts of coffee reduced a woman's chances of getting pregnant
by over 25%.
The study examined 8000 women who had
previous IVF treatment. 16% of these patients went onto conceive naturally in
the following years. Of these subjects, women who drank coffee daily were 26%
less likely to conceive naturally. This number is comparable with other factors
known to inhibit a woman's ability to conceive naturally. Patients who drank
alcohol 3 times a week or more were also 26% less likely to conceive naturally.
Smokers who smoked as little as one cigarette a day were 44% less likely to
conceive and overweight women were 29% less likely to conceive.
Recommendations
These results show that women have the
ability to influence their fertility by making healthier choices. By losing
weight and removing caffeine, alcohol, and smoking from your life can result in
a significant increase in the chances for pregnancy and reduce the risk for
miscarriage.
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