What is behind the purported link between poultry consumption and anovulatory infertility?
Meat Hormones and Female Infertility
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In fact, pregnant women, in particular, may want to stay away from all meat. In the first recorded volume of my Latest in Nutrition series back in 2007, we learned that meat is so packed with sex steroid hormones that when pregnant women eat meat, it may affect the development of their sons’ genital organs while still in the womb—such that when they grow up, they have decreased fertility. When moms eat meat during pregnancy, it “may alter a man’s testicular development in utero, and adversely affect his reproductive capacity.”
But in this study, they just looked at beef. And we know that all meat has these hormones, and they looked only at the fertility of the next generation. So, in effect, this study showed eating meat may lead to fewer grandchildren.
But what about your own fertility? Is there a direct effect of meat consumption on fertility in women? Fact, or fiction?
Fact. And not just any study, but the famous Harvard Nurses study, which followed 18,000 women—trying to get pregnant—for eight years, and measured what they ate. They found that meat intake was indeed associated with infertility. Adding just a single serving of meat per day was associated with a 30% greater risk of anovulatory infertility—meaning the meat consumption appeared to interfere with ovulation. And this increased risk was due mostly to the intake of poultry.
To break it down: eat a single serving of any meat, and you increase your infertility risk 30%. Red meat increases infertility risk 40%. But just a single serving of chicken—half a chicken breast a day—and women increase their infertility risk more than 50%—worse than bacon and hot dogs!
Now, while animal protein was associated with increased risk of infertility, consuming protein from vegetable sources appeared to have the opposite effect—protecting, improving fertility. The researchers aren’t sure why, but they think it might have something to do with the fact that animal protein intake increases the levels of a growth hormone called IGF-1, which has been linked not only to infertility but to cancer—whereas eating veggie protein doesn’t seem to have that adverse effect.
In summary, they concluded that replacing animal sources of protein—particularly chicken—with vegetable sources of protein—like beans—may reduce the risk of infertility because of anovulation, or failure to ovulate.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- S. H. Swan, F. Liu, J. W. Overstreet, C. Brazil, and N. E. Skakkebaek. Semen quality of fertile US males in relation to their mothers' beef consumption during pregnancy. Hum. Reprod., 22(6):1497- 1502, 2007.
- J. E. Chavarro, J. W. Rich-Edwards, B. A. Rosner, and W. C. Willett. Protein intake and ovulatory infertility. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol., 198(2):210-1, 2008.
Image thanks to Jamiesrabbits via flickr. Image has been modified.
In fact, pregnant women, in particular, may want to stay away from all meat. In the first recorded volume of my Latest in Nutrition series back in 2007, we learned that meat is so packed with sex steroid hormones that when pregnant women eat meat, it may affect the development of their sons’ genital organs while still in the womb—such that when they grow up, they have decreased fertility. When moms eat meat during pregnancy, it “may alter a man’s testicular development in utero, and adversely affect his reproductive capacity.”
But in this study, they just looked at beef. And we know that all meat has these hormones, and they looked only at the fertility of the next generation. So, in effect, this study showed eating meat may lead to fewer grandchildren.
But what about your own fertility? Is there a direct effect of meat consumption on fertility in women? Fact, or fiction?
Fact. And not just any study, but the famous Harvard Nurses study, which followed 18,000 women—trying to get pregnant—for eight years, and measured what they ate. They found that meat intake was indeed associated with infertility. Adding just a single serving of meat per day was associated with a 30% greater risk of anovulatory infertility—meaning the meat consumption appeared to interfere with ovulation. And this increased risk was due mostly to the intake of poultry.
To break it down: eat a single serving of any meat, and you increase your infertility risk 30%. Red meat increases infertility risk 40%. But just a single serving of chicken—half a chicken breast a day—and women increase their infertility risk more than 50%—worse than bacon and hot dogs!
Now, while animal protein was associated with increased risk of infertility, consuming protein from vegetable sources appeared to have the opposite effect—protecting, improving fertility. The researchers aren’t sure why, but they think it might have something to do with the fact that animal protein intake increases the levels of a growth hormone called IGF-1, which has been linked not only to infertility but to cancer—whereas eating veggie protein doesn’t seem to have that adverse effect.
In summary, they concluded that replacing animal sources of protein—particularly chicken—with vegetable sources of protein—like beans—may reduce the risk of infertility because of anovulation, or failure to ovulate.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- S. H. Swan, F. Liu, J. W. Overstreet, C. Brazil, and N. E. Skakkebaek. Semen quality of fertile US males in relation to their mothers' beef consumption during pregnancy. Hum. Reprod., 22(6):1497- 1502, 2007.
- J. E. Chavarro, J. W. Rich-Edwards, B. A. Rosner, and W. C. Willett. Protein intake and ovulatory infertility. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol., 198(2):210-1, 2008.
Image thanks to Jamiesrabbits via flickr. Image has been modified.
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Meat Hormones and Female Infertility
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Content URLDoctor's Note
For more on exogenous hormones and meat, check out:
Why Do Vegan Women Have 5x Fewer Twins?
Estrogen in Meat, Dairy, and Eggs
And check out my other videos on hormones.
For more context, check out my associated blog posts: Stool Size and Breast Cancer Risk; Treating Breast Pain with Diet; and How Do Plant-Based Diets Fight Cancer?
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