Brides-to-be, Beware: 10 "Killer Foods" That Can Lead to Infertility
If you've always been healthy and have no bad habits, but still can't conceive a baby, have you ever thought that the reason for your infertility might be "lurking" right beside you, and you haven't noticed it? Here is a list of 10 "killer foods" that can easily lead to infertility. For those who want to be mothers, you should be careful!
Long-term vegetarianism can reduce female fertility
In recent years, the vegetarian diet has become increasingly popular. Especially for women with fuller figures, some have even made it a habit, hoping to lose weight. It is undeniable that a vegetarian diet is indeed helpful for weight loss. However, recent medical research on vegetarianism has confirmed that a frequent vegetarian diet can affect hormone secretion in the body, and in severe cases, it can even lead to infertility.
Among the many studies on how a vegetarian diet affects female fertility, the conclusion from the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany, is the most notable. Professor Karback at the institute divided healthy teenage girls participating in the experiment into two groups. One group ate only vegetarian foods, with the exception of small amounts of cheese and milk, while the other group ate a normal diet.
After the 6-week weight loss plan, the researchers found that 78% of the women in the vegetarian group experienced the physiological phenomenon of stopped ovulation, and almost everyone in the group had shorter menstrual cycles than normal. However, in the normal diet group, 67% of the women ovulated normally, and there was no significant change in their menstrual cycles.
High-fat foods may cause infertility
Expert studies on mice have shown that high-fat foods can damage eggs in the ovaries and prevent them from becoming healthy embryos. This research result can be used to explain the infertility problems of obese women.
The experiment found that the infertility of the tested mice was mainly caused by a special protein. "This protein determines the ovary's response to fat," the researchers said. "Controlling this protein plays an important role in finding out the cause of food-induced infertility."
Carrots
Rich in carotene, various vitamins, and other beneficial nutrients for the human body. Gynecological experts at Rutgers Medical College in New Jersey, USA, have found that after women eat too many carrots, the large amount of carotene ingested can cause amenorrhea and inhibit the normal ovulation function of the ovaries. Therefore, women who wish to conceive should not eat too many carrots.
If you want to have your own little baby, and if you don't want abnormal menstruation, then don't be like Bugs Bunny, eating carrots all day long. If you also eat carrots one by one like Bugs Bunny, "crunch, crunch," should you think that you might cause your golden ovaries to reduce progesterone secretion, leading to no menstruation (amenorrhea), abnormal menstruation, anovulation, and infertility?
Coffee
Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the USA studied 104 women who wished to become pregnant and concluded that coffee has a direct impact on conception. Among these women, the chance of pregnancy for those who drank more than one cup of coffee a day was only half that of those who did not drink this beverage. Therefore, they suggest that if women plan to get pregnant, they should drink less coffee.
Sunflower Seeds
The protein part of sunflower seeds contains components that inhibit the testes, which can cause testicular atrophy and affect normal reproductive function. Therefore, young people of childbearing age should not eat them in large quantities.
Alcohol
Scientific research has proven that the main component of alcohol is ethanol, which can increase the concentration of catecholamines in the body, cause blood vessel spasms, and lead to incomplete or even atrophied testes. This can cause structural changes in sperm production, insufficient secretion of male hormones like testosterone, and symptoms of feminization such as a thinner voice and enlarged breasts. Such men are prone to male infertility, and even if they conceive, the possibility of the next generation having deformities is also high. In women, it can lead to irregular menstruation, amenorrhea, abnormal egg production, loss of libido, or stopped ovulation.
Garlic
Eating too much garlic can deplete a person's vital energy and has a significant sperm-killing effect. If young people of childbearing age eat too much, it has an adverse effect on fertility, so it should not be eaten in large quantities.
Roasted Beef and Lamb
Eating roasted beef and lamb is a habit of residents in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and other regions. Some people have found that a few women who love to eat roasted mutton give birth to children with intellectual disabilities, paralysis, or deformities. After investigation and modern medical research, these women and their deformed children are all victims of toxoplasmosis infection. People can often be infected when they come into contact with livestock and poultry infected with toxoplasmosis and eat undercooked meat from these animals.
Hubei Province once investigated the infection rate of livestock and poultry that are the main source of meat: 11.32% for pigs, 34.5% for sheep, 11.8% for chickens, and 9.4% for ducks. If you slaughter livestock and poultry and don't wash your hands before grabbing food to eat, or if you taste the filling for dumplings after handling raw meat, or if you use the same cutting board for raw and cooked food, or use knives for both raw and cooked food, or if you handle raw meat from a cold storage, sell meat, or roast meat... you can be contaminated with Toxoplasma trophozoites at any time. As for women who love to eat roasted meat, it is just one link in the easy infection of toxoplasmosis. Women infected with Toxoplasma may have no obvious symptoms. When they are pregnant, the infected Toxoplasma can be transmitted to the fetus through the uterus, causing fetal deformities. Toxoplasma infection is a major factor in fetal deformities. Therefore, it is necessary to have a toxoplasma antibody test before marriage or pregnancy.
Crude Cottonseed Oil
Long-term consumption of crude cottonseed oil can cause a sun-related disease, with symptoms that appear after sun exposure, including general weakness, little sweat, hot and flushed skin, palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, numbness in the limbs, and loss of appetite. A more serious effect is the damage to the reproductive system. Experimental studies have shown that after rats ate feed containing crude cottonseed oil for about 4 months, their testicles significantly shrank, sperm cells were significantly reduced or even disappeared, the uterus shrank, the endometrium and glands atrophied, the ovaries mildly atrophied, and there was mild edema in the renal parenchymal cells. Adult men who took cottonseed extract, gossypol, for 40 days at 60-70 mg per day, had all their sperm killed in a short period, and it gradually disappeared from the semen; women could experience amenorrhea or uterine atrophy. Therefore, young people of childbearing age should not eat it for a long time.
Bitter Melon
Bitter melon ranks first among melon vegetables in vitamin C content, and its sugar and fat content are very low, making it more suitable for obese people. However, the method of losing weight by eating a large amount of raw bitter melon is not only unscientific but also has certain health risks. According to scientific research, bitter melon does have an anti-fertility effect. Bitter melon protein inhibits endometrial differentiation and interferes with embryo implantation during the early and mid-stages of pregnancy.
Scientists conducted experiments on white mice and found that during the early and mid-stages of pregnancy, bitter melon protein can inhibit the decidualization of pregnant mice's uterus and the proliferation of endometrial and basal cells through a series of reactions. The main reactions are: blocking the further hatching of the fertilized egg, reducing blastocyst attachment, decreasing the outward growth of trophoblast cells, and affecting the development of the inner cell mass. However, before pregnancy, neither α-bitter melon protein nor β-bitter melon protein affects the recruitment and maturation of follicles.
In simple terms, bitter melon affects people who are pregnant (early and mid-stages), and eating too much may lead to miscarriage, but it has little effect on people who are not pregnant. As for men, scientists believe that bitter melon protein affects the normal development and activity of sperm, but this effect is reversible, meaning that fertility will return to normal after stopping eating bitter melon.
In addition, foods containing the following elements can also help improve fertility:
Zinc-rich foods: Among plant-based foods, beans, peanuts, millet, radishes, and Chinese cabbage have relatively high zinc content. Among animal-based foods, oysters are the richest in zinc. In addition, beef, chicken liver, eggs, lamb chops, and pork also contain relatively high amounts of zinc.
Animal Offal
This type of food contains a relatively high amount of cholesterol, of which about 10% is adrenal cortical hormones and sex hormones. Eating this type of food in appropriate amounts has a certain effect on enhancing sexual function. Foods rich in protein and vitamins, such as lean meat, eggs, fresh vegetables, and fruits.
Slippery and Sticky Foods
Research has confirmed that arginine is a necessary component for sperm formation and can enhance sperm motility, playing an important role in maintaining the normal function of the male reproductive system. Foods rich in arginine include eel, sea cucumber, cuttlefish, octopus, mackerel, sesame seeds, peanuts, and walnuts.