Plant-based diets appear to help create successful In-Vitro Fertilization [IVF] and pregnancy.  However, this study has been posted on vegetarian and vegan sites although it does not say anything about vegetarian or vegan diets being better for getting pregnant. Read the full press release here.

  1. The authors are clear -
    Eating a Mediterranean Diet helped IVF women become pregnant. This was described as having increased amounts of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and olive oil.
  2. There may be other factors involved in this that may not play out to other populations.  Their population were couples going to their clinic in Greece.
  3. This was NOT A VEGAN diet. It was not low in oil. A vegan diet low in added oils, oils in tubs and bottles, is very low in inflammatory foods.  The foods shown to have the highest inflammatory reaction in the human body are animal products and some processed food products.  A Mediterranean diet is lower in inflammatory foods than the standard omnivore diet. So, bringing down that inflammation may have made the IVF easier to connect and grow.
  4. If you look at previous studies by the same authors, they have another one about increase healthy semen with a Mediterranean diet.
  5. It appears that bringing in more fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and decreasing animal proteins increases chances of successful IVF and, possibly, natural pregnancy methodology.

I would suggest eating foods to lower your inflammatory states to assist in achieving a healthy pregnancy. I was on a fairly vegan diet, not completely vegan, when I conceived at age 40.

I had an extremely healthy pregnancy.  I gave birth to our son in our apartment.  [Thank goodness the midwife made in time to catch him.  He shot out fairly hard and may have knocked into the dresser.]

My own case study of being an older mother has some specific factors that could be helpful for future research about conception over age 35.   My husband was on a national Broadway tour across the US when we conceived and we met up whenever I could get another airplane ticket.  All I'm saying is these authors may want to study the water in Cleveland.

You may want to keep your eye on these researchers for further findings.