Download Sat_Room10_1100_BaskettRebecca_Eating Your Way to a Baby

Rebecca Baskett
Registered Dietitian
Fertility Associates
11:00 - 11:55 WS #119: Eating Your Way to A Baby
12:05 - 13:00 WS #131: Eating Your Way to A Baby (Repeated)
Eating Your Way to a Baby
Rebecca Baskett
New Zealand Registered Dietitian
Nutrition and Fertility: WHY?
Diet leading up to IVF treatment is important
 The
closer to your most ‘healthy weight’ you can get the better :

Obese men have sperm counts on average 22% lower than their
slimmer counterparts

For women having a healthy BMI is associated with better fertility.
Further more pregnancy in overweight women is associated with
problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
 Diet

can effect egg and sperm production
Eggs and sperm take 3 months to mature
Eating Your Way to a Baby
NZ statistics 2014/15
 Almost 1 in 3 adults were obese
 A further 35% of adults were overweight
 So that’s the general population….what about
people having fertility treatment….?

Eating Your Way to a Baby


Alice Reward (NZRD) Masters Theses 2012
Assessment of maternal nutrition during the periconceptional
period in women undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment

Women under going fertility treatment at Auckland and
Hamilton Fertility Associates clinics (n=250)
Nutrition of Women under-going Fertility
Treatment (NZ)

Diets were…..

High in Total and Saturated Fat & Na

Low in fibre, calcium and carbohydrate

Folic acid supplementation inadequate in 17% of women

No nutritional factors were clearly associated with IVF
success
Diet and Nutrition – what’s happening out there?
FAD diets
 Supplements ++
 Herbal remedies
 Confusion +++
 What should I be doing?

FAD Diets

Derived from 16th Century term “fiddle-faddle”.
(Nonsense)

Passing dietary craze, short term fix, little to no scientific
backing but with a strong media presence.

Generally restrictive, obsessive and unsustainable
FAD Diets

The Cabbage and Urine Diet (175 BC)

Arsenic Diet Pills (Late 1800s)

The Tapeworm Diet (Early1900s)

The Seeping Beauty Diet (1976)
Paleo
Eating foods that were available to our
hunter-gatherer ancestors.
 High in protein - keeps you full
 Less calories consumed after protein is
eaten compared to other nutrients.

Paleo
Eat: Fish, seafood, meat (from grass not grain fed
animals), eggs, oils (olive, flaxseed, avocado, coconut,
walnut, macadamia), fresh fruit and vegetables
 Avoid: Dairy, cereals/grains, legumes (including
peanuts), refined sugar, potatoes, processed foods, salt
and refined vegetable oils

Paleo
Positives
 An 85:15 rule can be followed on this diet where three
non- paleo meals can be eaten per week.
 An association has been seen with the paleo diet and
weight loss.

Paleo
Negatives
 Dairy products may be cut out

 good
source of calcium, essential for bone health.
Grains which are excluded have been seen to have an
array of health benefits.
 Packaged paleo foods can be expensive.

No sugar diet

What: This diet is based on cutting out foods with fructose
and added sugar.
No sugar diet
Eat: Meat, eggs, nuts, seeds, cheese, fruit, vegetables,
legumes, yoghurt (no sugar added), rice, pasta and
coconut oil
 Avoid: Baked or processed foods with added sugar
including bread and breakfast cereal, fruit juices, honey or
corn syrup.
 Some versions suggest restricting or even cutting out fruit
compeletly

No sugar diet




Positives
Focused on eating whole unprocessed foods.
Weight loss seen with this diet is probably due to a decrease
in calories consumed.
Encourage the message “limit/reduce processed foods” (often
high in saturated/trans fats, sugar and salt)
No sugar diet

Negatives

Rice malt sugar is allowed as a sweetener but is broken
down just like other sugars.
Some versions even also cut out fruit as it contains
fructose.


Fruit contains many vitamins and minerals and there is no
need to remove fruit from the diet.
 Lactose may restricted
No sugar diet
Negatives continued….
 Promotes coconut oil (comprised mainly of saturated fat,
evidence of the negative effects of saturated fat on heart
disease.
 Time consuming - cooking from scratch

FAD diets

There are loads!!
 Lemon
Detox, Aitkin's, Dukan diet, Cabbage soup diet, ‘Meat
and Milk diet’, Greenlane Heart diet......





Short term weight loss
Nutritionally incomplete
Side effects
Hard to maintain
Expensive
Eating Your Way to a Baby : HOW?
Eat Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner every day
 Regular
 Plan
meals can help you avoid snacking and over eating
meal times and avoid relying on takeaways, fast foods
and/or snack foods (often high in fat, sugar and/or salt)
Eating Your Way to a Baby: HOW?
5
+ a day !

≥2 handfuls of fruit

≥ 3 of vegetables
 high
in fibre
 Rich in antioxidants : can protect sperm against damage from
free radicals.
Eating Your Way to a Baby: HOW?
 Protein

Red meat



Hormones are NOT permitted in NZ chicken
Fish


richest source of iron
Chicken


Foods
Oily fish (salmon, sardines, tuna) are rich in omega-3’s
Legumes (chickpeas, beans, lentils), tofu, nuts and seeds
In general NZer’s eat too much
 1-2 serves daily (hand rule)
 Eat with vitamin C rich foods (fruit and vegetables) to aid absorption of
iron
Eating Your Way to a Baby: HOW?
 Dairy

Products
Rich source of calcium, riboflavin (B1), vitamin B12
and protein!
 Choose
low fat varieties
 2-3 serves each day (e.g. glass of milk, pottle of yoghurt,
slice of cheese)

Choose calcium fortified milk alternatives

soy milk is the most nutritionally balanced milk alternative
Eating Your way to a Baby: HOW?
 What about Fat!?

Yes you do need it BUT
 In
small amounts
 Aim to have more ‘good’ than ‘bad’ fats

Limit you Saturated fat intake
 Meat
fat, chicken skin, takeaways, pastry-based items, butter, high fat
dairy products (cream, cheese), processed snack items (crisps,
chocolate, baked goods).
 try to use mono- and poly-unsaturated fats instead
e.g. margarine, avocado, plant based oils (olive, canola, safflower, rice
bran)
Eating Your Way to a Baby
Eating Your Way to a Baby
Eating Your Way to a Baby: HOW
 What to Drink?






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Alcohol – no safe upper limit known = AVOID
Caffeine – try to limit/avoid
 Coffee, tea, green tea, cola, energy drinks
Soft drinks/cordials – contain sugar and often unnecessary
calories.
Fruit juice – not a substitute for fruit!
 contain a lot of sugar/calories. Contains vitamins but no fibre.
Limit to a cup per day
Drink more Water!! Its safe and free 
Choose low calorie/sugar free flavourings
Herbal teas, non-caffeinated coffee
Vitamins and Minerals

More is NOT necessarily better or safe!!

Aim to get the vitamins and minerals you need from
your food
 Cheaper
 Body
can absorb them better
 Additional
benefits e.g. fibre, micronutrients not in pills,
foods rich in vits/mins are generally low in fat and energy
 Multivitamins
do not necessarily have everything you need
and/or at the right level
Vitamins and Minerals
 Exceptions
 Folic acid
to the rule
 800mcg/day
4 weeks prior to conception and 12 weeks after
becoming pregnant
 Apo- Folic Acid Tab: 800mcg ($19.80 per 1000)

Iodine
 150mcg/day
when pregnant and breastfeeding
 Neurokare: 150mcg ($7.55 per 90)


Deficiency – if you are low in a particular nutrient then you
should see your doctor and take a prescribed supplement.
Total approx. 10 cents/day
Vitamins and Minerals

Over the Counter (OTC) multivitamins

Blackmore's Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Gold
 Per capsule: Folic acid
 Dose: 1 capsule daily
500mcg, iodine 150mcg
 <800mcg folic acid
 60 capsules $29.95; 120 capsules
 Cost per day = $0.45 approx

$52.95
Elevit with iodine
 Per capsule :Folic acid
 Dose : 1 capsule daily
800mcg, iodine 250mcg
 100 capsules = $74.30
 Cost per day = $0.75
Vitamins and Minerals

Over the Counter products (OTC)
 May
not contain the correct amount of the vitamin or mineral (too
little or too much) e.g. seaweed, spirulina, kelp.
 May not be in a form the body can absorb
 No guarantee of content (not regulated)
 Often are expensive

Prescribed supplement
 They
are regulated
 The nutrient is in an absorbable form
 Cheaper! (funded)
Eating Your Way to a Baby : Summary
 Start




NOW!
Aim for a healthy weight
Avoid FAD diets & unnecessary supplements
Eat for a healthy body and mind – get the basics right:
regular meals, 5 + a day, low fat dairy, quality
protein, low fat diet.
Females - start folic acid: 800mcg/day and iodine
150mcg/day.
 Check
adequacy of OTC supplements before you buy
Eating Your Way to a Baby
Questions?

Thank you! 