Pregnancy delayed a month by regular fast food diet

Pregnancy delayed a month by regular fast food diet


A burger and fries a day will keep a baby away.

That’s the lesson from a recent Australian study that shows regular consumers of fast food take longer to get pregnant and have a two-fold increase in the risk of infertility.

The research was published in the journal Human Reproduction and examined the diet of about 5,600 [fifty-six-hundred] pregnant women. The study found the risk of infertility — defined as taking more than a year to get pregnant — increased from 8 to 16 percent if a woman ate fast food four or more times a week.

For the women who ate fast food such as burgers, fries, pizza and fried chicken regularly, it took on average a month longer to get pregnant than those who never took a swing through the drive-thru.

The researchers also found that those woman with the lowest consumption of fruit increased their risk of infertility from 8 to 12 percent. Furthermore, women eating fruit three or more times a day got pregnant a half month sooner than those with little dietary fruit.

Surprisingly, green, leafy vegetables and fish were not found to have an impact on the time it took to get pregnant.

Scientists didn’t study why fast food delays pregnancy. But they said earlier research points to the fact that fatty acids in the bloodstream may affect the quality of a female’s eggs. And the stuff of fast food — sugar, salt, high fat — affect metabolism, another factor in fertility.

Researchers said it’s important to remember that the study found an association between fast food and infertility, saying more research is needed to prove specific foods influence conception.

Still, we should all know that our eating habits impact our health.

After all, we are what we eat.

Related Episodes