Women who eat more fast food spend longer trying to get pregnant, while those who eat more fruit conceive more quickly, researchers in Australia reported Thursday.
It’s one more finding adding to evidence that a healthy diet can help make people more fertile.
Women who ate fruit less than one time a month took about two weeks longer, on average, to get pregnant than women who ate fruit three times a day or more, the team at the University of Adelaide in Australia found.
“It shows that healthier foods support conception, while unhealthier foods do not so much,” Jessica Grieger of the university’s Robinson Research Institute, who led the study team, said in an interview.
And yes, there were women who only ate fruit once a month. “I cannot comment on that,” Grieger said, laughing.
U.S. guidelines recommend eating two to three servings of fruit a day, so the optimal fertility diet falls within normal dietary recommendations.
The team studied more than 5,500 women in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Britain who, at the start of the study, had never had a baby.
When the women were 15 weeks pregnant, they were asked about specific foods they ate and how often. The list was detailed and included fresh fruit, leafy green vegetables, specific types of fish, burgers, fried chicken, tacos, pizza and fries.