A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study on Diet and Women Fertility

Abstract

Aims: The goal of this study was to determine the impact of diet and dietary habits on women's fertility. Materials and Methods: Between January and September 2014, this study was conducted in seven different institutes and hospitals in Baghdad. The participants were 400 adult women, ranging in age from 17 to 47 years, who were separated into two groups. There were 300 fertile women in group I and 100 infertile women in group II.A specific questionnaire had been designed and used for data collection. Results: A significant difference in weight and body mass index (BMI) was discovered between the infertile and control groups. The mean weights for the infertile and control groups were 73.07 kg vs 69.06 kg, respectively, while the mean BMI was 28.83 vs 26.70 for the infertile and control groups. In addition, the infertile women consumed more carbonated beverages, tea, chicken, and fish than the control group, while consuming less milk and red meat. Furthermore, the infertile group consumed less corn oil and olive oil than the control group (5 and 0% vs 21 and 2%, respectively), but ingested more solid fat and mixed fat (2 and 6% vs 0 and 2.7%, respectively). Conclusion: Although there are treatment options for infertility, their high cost and high frequency of side effects have prompted researchers to look into dietary aspects that may contribute to infertility. This study confirmed the association between weight, BMI, and infertility. Diet was identified as one of the modifiable risk factors that may affect fertility in the selected groups in the current study; therefore, it is critical to focus more on the role of diet in women's fertility and raise women's awareness of it, as well as suggesting more educational programmes at the primary health care level.