Don’t smoke, avoid too much caffeine and eat healthily – seems like mums’ instinct to us!
Whether you’re trying for a baby, are pregnant or already have children, there’s no doubt expert advice and tips from other mums is vital (that’s what we’re here for after all). But, it seems to us that June is fast becoming the silly season for, dare we say, pretty obvious pregnancy health advice.
A recent study, by a Danish team at Aarhus University Hospital, has revealed that women’s chances of conceiving by IVF are halved if they drink five or more cups of a coffee a day, according to the Telegraph. Caffeine is yet to be the confirmed culprit, but tea drinkers are also warned that more than 10 cups of tea (the equivalent caffeine to five cups of coffee) should also be avoided.
Now, we have some hardened tea drinkers in the office, but 10 cups a day?! Isn't that fairly excessive for anyone, not just for women trying to get pregnant?
More new research from the Harvard School of Public Health warned this week that eating lots of saturated fats can damage women’s fertility as well as lower men’s sperm count. They're hailing the avocado and other foods containing monounsaturated fats as an aid to conception, both naturally and through IVF. The Telegraph reports such a diet could triple the success rate.
We don’t know about you, but eating more fruit and veg and avoiding biscuits, fatty meats, cream and cheese is the healthy diet that we know we should be striving for anyway, with warnings of high cholesterol and heart disease if we don't.
Richard Kennedy, general secretary of the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS) concluded, “This work reinforces the need for a good lifestyle for those trying to have a baby; eat and drink in moderation, and don’t smoke.” Cheers, Rich!
You might find it more helfpul to concentrate on the hidden levels of caffeine in drinks from high street coffee shops. Plus, we’ve debunked a few other food myths and given you a head start on getting the spark back in your relationship, which (shock, horror) has also been reported in the press this week as facing a few challenges pre- and post-birth.
Long live common sense, we say!
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