For women undergoing IVF, it may be wise to cut out the coffee to increase the chance of getting pregnant. A study suggests that drinking upwards of four cups of coffee leads to being 26% less likely to conceive. The study followed 9,000 women who underwent IVF to see if they subsequently got pregnant naturally. The heavy coffee drinkers were significantly less likely to get pregnant than those who abstained from coffee.It's not just coffee either. Alcohol, as few as three times a week, had the same effect as coffee. Smoking, even just one cigarette a day, and being overweight reduced the chances of getting pregnant even further. This doesn't necessarily mean, however, that if you want to get pregnant, you need to cut out everything in order to do so. "Whilst the results of this study are interesting," said Fiona Ford, of the Centre for Pregnancy Nutrition, "there are evidently limitations to these findings as post IVF patients are a selective group who have already experienced problems with conception."
Personally, if I were trying to get pregnant, I think I'd do everything I could to maximize my chances. Giving up coffee, alcohol, and cigarettes seems like a good place to start.
1. I had always heard the caffeine intake reduced your ability to get pregnant. This was years ago. Old wive's tale that proved true? When we started trying for our son, I cut out the caffeine cold turkey. That was not a pleasant few days to be around me...
Posted at 3:39PM on Jul 9th 2008 by Nicola