fat dairy products like skimmed milk may significantly
increase their risk of becoming infertile, new research
from the US claims.
Eating two or more
servings of low fat dairy foods every day appeared to
give women an 85 per cent higher chance of infertility
due to a lack of ovulation, known as anovulatory
infertility, researchers found.
Their work, published in Europe's leading reproductive
medicine journal, Human Reproduction, may raise
concerns in light of current consumer trends towards
lower fat dairy products.
The US-based research team looked at dietary and
lifestyle habits of 18,555 women with no history of
infertility, aged between 24 and 42. The women were
originally part of another study done between 1991 and
During the eight years, 438 healthy women became
infertile due to an ovulatory disorder, and the
researchers linked their problems back to low fat dairy.
Women who ate at least one serving of high fat dairy
every day, such as ice cream, appeared to reduce their
risk of ovulatory infertility by 27 per cent, however.
Dr Jorge Chavarro, lead researcher, said information on
the link was scarce and called for more studies "in
order to confirm or refute the findings".
He advised women wanting to conceive to switch to full
fat dairy, but added: "Once they have become
pregnant, then they should probably switch back to low
fat dairy foods as it is easier to limit intake of
saturated fat by consuming [these]."
Professor Chris Barratt, a fertility expert from the
University of Birmingham, told this publication the
research may have some basis in fact.
"The key thing here is that this is a big
study. I think you can take some confidence in that.
"We've known for some time that patients with low
body weight have very significant problems ovulating,
and patients overweight also have problems
Barratt said people "shouldn't get carried
away" at this stage, and that little was known
about the mechanism by which foods could affect
fertility. Age, he added, was a much bigger factor in
declining fertility in women.
But, he remained open to the idea: "Diet
affects every other part of your body so why not
Source: Human Reproduction
Published 28 February, doi:10.1093/humrep/dem019
"A prospective study of dairy foods intake and
anovulatory infertility "
Lead author: Dr Jorge Chavarro, Harvard School of
Public Health, Boston, US.