EATING fruit and vegetables could boost the chance of having a baby – but men are much “lazier” than women at taking such advice, researchers have warned.
A major study of more than 1,100 men and women found that those with healthy diets were much more likely to conceive.
Regular consumption of fruit, vegetables and pulses was associated with far higher levels of fertility. Non-smokers and those who avoided alcohol, or limited their intake, were also more likely to conceive.
The study, presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology’s annual meeting in Lisbon, showed that, overall, women were more likely than men to have a healthy diet.
In findings described as “striking and statistically significant”, the research indicated that 55 per cent of fertile men consumed fruit five times a week compared with 73 per cent of fertile women.
Fertile women were also more likely than men to eat eggs regularly.
Eugenio Ventimiglia, a researcher from San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy, said: “Women are more keen on being careful than men. We have to try to convince men that diet and lifestyle is an issue.”
He said men often did not think their habits would influence the chances of conception, and were reluctant to seek medical advice when struggling with fertility. “It’s always the wife who prompts the investigation,” he said. “Men are lazier and are keen to rely on the women.”
He added that anyone trying to start a family should adopt a healthy lifestyle to increase their chances of success. Experts said fruits and vegetables appeared to improve sperm quality because they contain antioxidants. Those who ate plenty of fruit and vegetables were also less likely to eat fatty foods and red meat, which can reduce fertility.
Allan Pacey, Professor of Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said there was now “a wealth of evidence” to show that a good intake of fruit and vegetables can help sperm quality.
However, he said men had been given too little advice about the impact of diet on fertility. “I think most of our pre-conception advice … has been primarily aimed at women (take your folic acid, etc) and men have really been missed out of the public health message,” he said. “Men are generally less interested than women in how their diet links to health, and in particular issues of fertility and infertility.”
Prof Pacey said men who wanted to start a family should try to eat five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables each day. “I think all men inherently know what foods and lifestyle habits are good and which of them are bad,” he said. “But sometimes they need to hear it from someone who isn’t their partner.”
The study compared the daily habits of 1,134 men and women who had a baby in the previous 12 months with those of participants who tried and failed to conceive during the same period.
While 65 per cent of fertile study participants ate fruit every day, the figure was just 51 per cent among those suffering from infertility.
In total, while 51 per cent of those who had succesfully conceived ate vegetables every day, the figure was 47.8 per cent among those suffering from infertility.
Those who were fertile were also more likely to eat pulses regularly, less likely to have taken recreational drugs and much more likely to have shunned alcohol.
Just 42.5 per cent of those who conceived drank alcohol at all, compared with 55.4 per cent of those who failed to conceive. Infertile participants were almost twice as likely to drink heavily than those who were fertile, with 9.1 per cent of those who failed to conceive drinking more than two litres of alcohol a week, compared to 5.5 per cent of those who were fertile.
Coffee drinking was also more common among the infertile, with 90.6 per cent consuming the drink compared with 83.7 per cent of those who had conceived.