Private MD News

Conceiving later in life is possible with help from healthy lifestyles

Category: Infertility Testing-Male

Many couples are delaying having a baby until later in life. While this may help individuals fit a family into their other life goals, it can also increase the chances of receiving FSH test results indicating low fertility. However, there are methods that can boost fertility, even in those who have missed their most productive years.

One of the most important things men and women can do is lead a healthy lifestyle. Dr. Lorne Brown, a Vancouver-based fertility expert, said that a healthy diet and losing weight can increase fertility in older couples.

"Diet, for example, can have a real effect on women’s reproductive hormones. Research based on the Harvard Nurses Study found that women who followed a whole food, low-[glycemic index], mostly plant-based diet experienced a six-fold increase in fertility," Brown said.

This advice is equally as important for men as it is women. Brown said that most couples start out thinking that their difficulties are the result of health problems in the female partner, but fertility issues are just as common in men as they are in women.