Mediterranean Diet May Aid Conception

The Mediterranean diet may do more than decrease your chances of heart disease: A pilot studyindicates it can also help women seeking to conceive through in vivo fertilization to become pregnant.

The research, recently shared at the annual meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology in Istanbul, indicates a diet containing lots of monounsaturated fat — typically found in avocados, olive oil, peanuts, almonds and cashews — can as much as triple the chances of conceiving for women resorting to fertility treatment.

Dr. Jorge Chavarro and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health found that women who ate the most monounsaturated fat (25 percent of their calories came from these fats) had up to three times the chance of giving birth via in vivo fertilization as those who consumed the least (9 percent of their calories).

Chavarro cautioned that the study was small and the findings needed to be replicated in larger numbers to confirm the findings.