Ovulation Signs
Results of a Research Study

When you are overcoming infertility, then your ovulation signs are especially important. Has your doctor confirmed that the delay in conceiving may be due to an ovulation disorder? If so, a recent study suggests that your conception dreams may just become a reality, simply by changing some of your eating habits.

Recommendations to eating and lifestyle changes can be found on infertility diet and alkaline diet and infertility solution.

Causes of infertility are very often due to incorrect diet, as evidenced in a recent study. Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) in the USA examined the impact diet and lifestyle has on ovulation based infertility problems and the results were quite astounding

Walter Willet, senior author of the research paper and chair of the HSPH Department of Nutrition said their study had indicated that "making the right dietary choices and including the right amount of physical activity in your daily life may make a large difference in your probability of becoming fertile if you are experiencing problems with ovulation"

Ovulation infertility

Women who have these problems often find they ovulate infrequently and may also have infrequent periods. This means it can be very difficult to time intercourse to coincide with the release of an egg (ovulation), so there are fewer opportunities to conceive.

Understanding the ovulation cycle is an important step in understanding when this event occurs, therefore recognizing ovulation signs will benefit you in this process.

As previous discussed, the problem of infertility can be a very complex one, as both male and female can be affected. Around 40% of all infertility problems are a result of problems with the male's sperm. Twenty-five per cent can be attributed to ovulation disorders, while fallopian tube disease or endometriosis are each responsible for fifteen per cent of female infertility problems.

Diet, lifestyle and ovulation

This study conducted at HSPH focused only on infertility problems that were caused by ovulation disorders. The researchers followed a group of 17 544 married women. The team devised a system where dietary and lifestyle factors were scored. Previous studies have found that these factors could predict infertility that was due to an ovulatory disorder.

Knowing this, researchers gave these factors scores that they could compare against factual fertility rates in the group of women included in the study.

The factors compared against, included:

• The ratio of mono-unsaturated to trans fats in the diet

• Protein consumption (derived from animals or vegetables)

• Carbohydrates consumption (including intake of fibre and dietary glycemic index (GI) levels)

• Dairy consumption (of low and high fat dairy)

• Iron consumption

• Multivitamin use

• Body mass index (BMI, weight in kilograms divided by the square height in meters)

• Physical activity

Findings of the study

Over the course of the study, researchers found that the women whose lifestyle and diet were linked to a lower risk of infertility -

• Consumed fewer trans fats

• Ate less sugar from carbohydrates (they had a lower GI diet)

• Consumed more protein from vegetables than from animals (by eating more veges, grains and fruits and less meat)

• Ate more fibre and iron

• Took more multivitamins

• Had a lower BMI

• Exercised for longer periods of time each day

• Consumed more high-fat dairy products and less low-fat dairy products

The results did not appear to be affected by the women's age or whether or not they had been pregnant in the past. (Secondary infertility)

Lead author of the report, Jorge Chavaroo who is a Research Fellow in the HSPH Department of Nutrition said, "We analysed what happens if you follow one, two three, four, or more different factors. What we found was that , as women started following more of these recommendations, their risk of infertility dropped substantially for every one of the dietary and lifestyle strategies undertaken. In fact, we found a six fold difference in ovulation infertility risk between women following five or more low risk dietary and lifestyle habits and those following none."

So, if your infertility problems are ovulation-based, then talk to your doctor about the results of this study and what this could mean to you. Recognizing signs of ovulation are important to ensure that this event is happening as expected.

Mild to moderate exercise, healthy eating and vitamin supplements can improve your ovulation signs.

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