Whole-fat milk products may help women conceive

Women who are trying to get pregnant may increase their odds of conceiving by eating ice cream or drinking a glass of whole milk each day, suggests a new study. The study also hints that women trying to conceive may want to avoid low-fat dairy foods, as these seem to be linked to non-ovulation.

Study chief Jorge E. Chavarro, from Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, said: "It may be reasonable to consume one or two daily servings of full-fat dairy foods temporarily while trying to get pregnant... of course, while also keeping a low saturated-fat intake and without increasing the intake of total calories."

Over the course of eight years, Dr Chavarro and colleagues assessed the diets of 18,555 married women without a history of infertility who attempted to get pregnant or became pregnant.

During the study, 2,165 women were examined medically for infertility and 438 were found to be infertile due to lack of ovulation, or anovulation.

The researchers found that women who ate two or more servings of low-fat dairy foods per day, particularly skimmed milk and yoghurt, increased their risk of ovulation-related infertility by more 85 per cent compared with women who ate less than one serving of low-fat dairy food per week.

"The opposite was true for full-fat dairy foods, particularly whole milk," Dr Chavarro said. Women who ate at least one serving of high-fat dairy food daily reduced their risk of ovulation-related infertility by 27 per cent compared to women who ate one or fewer high-fat dairy servings per week.

In "specific foods" analyses, the researchers observed that women who ate ice cream two or more times per week had a 38 per cent lower risk of ovulation-related infertility compared to women who ate ice cream less than once a week.

Recommendations that adults consume three or more daily servings of low-fat milk or equivalent dairy products "may well be deleterious for women planning to become pregnant as it would give them an 85 per cent higher risk of anovulatory infertility according to our findings," Dr Chavarro said in a statement.

He advises that women wanting to conceive to swap low-fat dairy foods like skim milk and yogurt for high-fat dairy foods like whole milk and ice cream, while at the same time maintaining their normal calorie intake and limiting their overall intake of saturated fats in order to maintain good general health.

Once a woman becomes pregnant, Dr Chavarro said, she should probably switch back to low-fat dairy foods.