Fat, Carbs and the Science of Conception

This article is yet another example of medicine (an art) masquerading as science. As a holistic health practitioner, research scientist, and author of several books on wellness, I am quite familiar with the Nurse's Health Study, upon which many of the conclusions in this article are based. Like the majority of health studies, this one is poorly designed, does not control many of the critical variables that affect the outcome, and repeatedly confuses correlation with causation. The result is that at least half the conclusions fly in the face of reality when seen through the template of Nature. You remember her. She evolved us and every other living thing on the planet. She has been my guide to health for decades and has never let me down.

Here are a few reality checks:

1. The study: plant protein appears to be better than animal protein. Nature: that is only true if you eat grain-fed caged animal products. If you eat what I created - organic free range grass- and grub-fed animal products, the reverse is true.

2. The study: eat more protein from beans. Nature: do not eat my plant embryos. I put toxins in them to discourage you. Many of them like the ones in soy will make you infertile and reduce your partner's sperm count.

3. The study: women are born to run. Nature: women food gatherers have no need to run ??? plants don't move. Vigorous exercise will damage your skeleton and lead to a cessation of menstruation. Pay attention.

I could go on ad nauseum, but you get the idea. The medical community, in its arrogance, believes it knows more about the female body than Nature, and has even declared the birth event as an illness that requires hospitalization. Nature: I designed you to give birth in a squatting position.

The study and the article completely missed the most important points in giving birth to a healthy baby, which is the ultimate goal. Parents need to prepare at least 2 years before conception to clean up their toxin profile. An example is PCOS, caused by an iodine deficiency resulting from a buildup of toxic halogens ??? bromide, chlorine and fluoride. If you want to learn from Nature how to produce health children, read my book: "The Wellness Project," and give a copy to your doctor.

Roy Mankovitz, Director
www.MontecitoWellness.com

I think that it is important to point out that these days it isn't just eating well but eating organic. Research from Rutgers showed that non organic foods are completely devoid of trace minerals now. So while people may think they are eating well they aren't getting ket minerals like zinc which is critical for fertility. The other aspect is all the chemicals in food. for more info have a look at

http://www.naturalhi.com/Downloads/Improve%20Fertility_Well4Life%20022508.pdf

Some of you are so smug. I'm a very healthy eater and I exercise regularly, and I miscarried my first pregnancy. I know many healthy women who've miscarried and it appears to be much more common than people realize. So please don't come on here and write, "well, I'm eat healthy and I've never had a problem with pregnancy" and try to imply that it's something that can always be controlled by diet and exercise. Consider yourselves lucky, not smarter than the rest of us.

Sorry the last comment I made should have posted 1/17/08 ish but the system wouldn't let me..... To date: tried the food recommendations and liked the chages I saw overall (it's not much different than a medditeranean style eating plan.) Also went on Progesterone due to my "age" and pretty much got pregnant a month after starting both. Whose to say which helped the most but I am now over 3 months along...yea!

Rockaway apparently didn't read the article at all......and the stuff about body size???? please list a study conducted long term that verifies the underweight/overweight fertility issues. I've seen anectdotal work but nothing truely serious. I know plenty of examples from both sides of the fence who have gotten pregnant easily (under 35yrs old). Lets try to stick to the science being discussed unless people want to provide 1 deg sources.

Best wishes to everyone dealing with ovulatory infertility and looking for answers....

Some more to add.....running is not unhealthy when pregnant or trying to get pregnant. I mentioned it only in that my asthma makes me uncomfortable. Comfort is the key- if your exercise of choice is comfortable while pregnant and you see a Doc regularly, continue to do it. Many of my running friends were fine well into their 7th month.
PCOS is not covered under this article/research. JUST general ovulatory infertility.
This article is from a well respected group of scientists conducting multiple research studies. Please go to http://www.channing.harvard.edu/nhs/publications/2005.shtml to get an idea of some of their other journal published work. You can also find the questionnaires used for their studies on the site. This 'fertility and diet' article first appeared in the November 1, 2007, issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology (a journal.) It's not just someone's opinion and, as the author states, they were trying to provide solid research data to verify or refute the dearth of opinions and unsubstantiated advice out there. It's the first of it's kind to look at fertility and diet over such a long time period.
Fertilityfile.com (while not the blog referred to below) gives lots of info (including an opinion on this article) from the perspective of a reproductive endocrinologist. Check it out if you have time.
Also wanted to clarify my choice of 'Dawinia'- a pointed response to 'evolutionist'- but NOT meant in the false scientific vein of social darwinism. Darwin's paradigm shattering contribution was that life has and will change through time- period.
In response to eandj62204 - 'Chemicals' are a worth while option for some us looking at our clock and considering IVF or other treatments. Please don't judge us. I would take a chemical any day of the week to prevent another miscarriage and save my child.

Being too thin decreases fertility, too. I'm 25 lb underweight with very little body fat and have not had a period in over a year.
It's easy for me to stay like this because it's the fat ones who get ripped on, not us skinnies.

It's long been known that obesity decreases fertility. The mechanism is that adipose tissue absorbs hormones and then leaks them back into the system. That makes the normal hormone cycle flatten out and ovulation is depressed.

Nice to find out these other factors.

Best wishes,
Ron

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one day carbs are good , another day, they aren't. studys contradict each other all the time. I Don't
worry about studys or what they say is good, or what is not, i just keep doing the same thing, and i am
just fine

And one more... before I forget. "They" actually don't know the reason for PCOS... PCOS for those who do not know, is a symptom based title for having imbalance LH hormones and FSH hormones, along with cysts on the ovaries that never burst into an egg, and don't really go away. There are so many factors that go into why ovaries become cystic- it could be insulin intolerance, it could be genetic, it could be dietary, it could have to do with estrogenic birth controls... the list goes on. I have been diagnosed with PCOS as a very healthy young woman who abides by a whole-foods diet. So, who knows! Again there is nothing but benefits from a healthy life-style.

I also wanted to agree that the population comment was made rather sarcastically and offensively to those wishing to have a child. I think it's a VERY sensitive topic as it fights our natural desires to reproduce. It is not wrong to have children. The question is, can we do so as a world in a healthy and sustainable manner... THAT is a topic of discussion for another board!!! Not here.

I think no matter what, the MOST important thing to take from this article (and this is coming from someone with ovulation/fertility issues) is to be healthy. That may be different for each individual body. There are so many factors that go into our whole body health: diet, sleep, stress, genetic predispositions, emotional well-being etc. It is important to keep this in perspective. Another thought for all this food talk is what about chemicals and hormones in our food? There is not one part of our body that functions without the rest. It is an entire ship that is effected by each individual part.

Oops did not realize 1st comment actually posted

Wow! What an article. And the comments are shall we say heated. From the researching I have done PCOS is a polygenic disorder(affecting 2 genes) not environmental like someone alliterated to. You can get it from either parent. I also have PCOS and think I got it from both parents(both are dead now but looking back at their health history). It is amazing how one article can get so many people fired up. Just because something is printed does not mean it is 100% true. When it comes to health there are too many gray ares to cover everything. It was not someones thesis after all. Someone like me who did not have parents that followed a good balanced diet to educate me better at home and give a good example find alot of the nutrition facts intriguing. I am willing to try just about anything to provide a safer womb environment for a 2nd child that does not involve man made chemicals not found naturally in the body or environment. Its just an article, lets remember that. Its just friendly advice incase someone did not know some of the info in the article. If they had gone into some of the areas posted here it would have led to a medical journal not a mag article.

Wow what a story. And some of the comments posted are shall we say heated. It was just an article not someone telling you what to do or how to live your life. It is just for informative purposes for people like me who didn't realize some of the nutritional facts. I also have PCOS. Looking back at family histories from both sides in my case it is genetic. Most is. It is in a book by a DR I read many yrs ago that PCOS is a polygenic disorder. Meaning 2 genes are invoved. You can get from either parent. Just because a magazine publishes some research does not mean anyone has to believe any or all facts or follow any of its advise. I personally am willing to give anything a try to make a safer womb environment for a 2nd child without the use of man made chemicals that are not found naturally in the body or in the environment. Besides, its free and that is a plus. Now lets just see how my carnivore husband sees the changes

I very much agree with IVFMD. For Darwinia, I agree with cutting back on the running.

Sorry, I think I need to clarify one thing....It dawned on me the next day that PCOS is not the acronym for general ovulatory infertility. I don't have PCOS currently but I do have Ovulatory Infertility. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is different and I believe from the authors statement below that this article was not ment to address that issue nor any other more serious infertility complications.
"At least for now, these recommendations are aimed at preventing and reversing ovulatory infertility, which accounts for one quarter or more of all cases of infertility. They won't work for infertility due to physical impediments ..." I also think it's important to note the age statistics mentioned early in the article (only 10% of 20 yr olds but 30% in their thirties have fertility issues...) The authors don't state that this has changed as a result of their research and so I'd say it's a safe bet that the sample group of established RNs over 8 years ranged from early twenties to late thirties. I think it's unlikely the group included women older than forty as the prevalence of so many other fertility issues would complicate the data. As they stated this was only ment to address general (but very commmon) ovulatory infertility.

This is such an emotionally charged issue (see the comments below!) My own story: EASILY pregnant 1st try at 34, trying now (at 36/37....38 coming fast) for a year with 2 early miscarriages and PCOS. Started Clomid 3 months ago. I have had a healthy diet and have worked out regulary for the last 10yrs- I ran my first half marathon just before the fertility issues started- but I've also been 10-15lbs over average that whole time.
Fertility is a result of many factors (I've had thyroid isses for 20 years) and I think the authors clearly try to say this- they're are just offering one more possible solution. I appreciate the research they conducted over eight years and the source is a good one with a good population studied. This research HASN'T been done on humans before- anything else I've read has been anecdotal guesswork.
Is there more to do? SURE! Age would have been a nice factor to include but grow up people- even I knew that at 35 (yes! NOT 40) most women's egg production slows and uterine lining changes to be less hospitable (fibroids, etc, etc) but I waited to have kids. Family history would be really interesting and give light to any genetic component (but both my grandmothers had kids in their late 30's so??)
It's such an individual soup of life history, chemical exposure, age, genetics, diet, excercise- we all know this- but I am willing to try something as simple and free as this based on statistically significant results and not someone's "theory". I do not think I fit in the ratios the diet outlines currently, there a couple of changes I can make- switch to whole organic milk instead of the lowfat organic; switch to only nuts, beans, fish and eggs for a protein source (hard for me personally but I'm willing); and go back to a little more muscle building excercise (I had cut back on the running worried that it was too much of a stress with my asthma- but didn't add anything else back...); I can boost the amount of fiber I eat. this is very much what I did and craved while breastfeeding all those months (except nuts and protein switch).....anyway we'll see and I'll come back and write again.
PS- to EVOLUTIONIST- You aren't truely one or you'd believe in having babies to at least replace ourselves and further our individual genotypes. But perhaps your patchouli-esque phenotype missed that lecture in Biology 101.

There's no doubt that diet might have an effect on some people's fertility, but they should avoid inferring from your article that it is THE single most important factor. Thanks for the information. I have blogged my feedback at FertilityFile.