Objective
The objective of the study was to evaluate whether intake of protein from animal and
vegetable origin is associated with ovulatory infertility.
Study Design
A total of 18,555 married women without a history of infertility were followed up
as they attempted a pregnancy or became pregnant during an 8 year period. Dietary
assessments were related to the incidence of ovulatory infertility.
Results
During follow-up, 438 women reported ovulatory infertility. The multivariate-adjusted
relative risk (RR) (95% confidence interval [CI]; P for trend) of ovulatory infertility
comparing the highest to the lowest quintile of animal protein intake was 1.39 (1.01
to 1.90; 0.03). The corresponding RR (95% CI; P for trend) for vegetable protein intake
was 0.78 (0.54 to 1.12; 0.07). Furthermore, consuming 5% of total energy intake as
vegetable protein rather than as animal protein was associated with a more than 50%
lower risk of ovulatory infertility (P =.007).
Conclusion
Replacing animal sources of protein with vegetable sources of protein may reduce ovulatory
infertility risk.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
June 28,
2007
Received in revised form:
May 2,
2007
Received:
February 5,
2007
Footnotes
This work was supported by the main Nurses’ Health Study II Grant CA50385, Training Grant T32 DK-007703, and the Yerby Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The Nurses’ Health Study II is supported for other specific projects by National Institutes of Health Grants CA55075, CA67262, AG/CA14742, CA67883, CA65725, DK52866, HL64108, and HL03804.
Cite this article as: Chavarro JE, Rich-Edwards JW, Rosner BA, et al. Protein intake and ovulatory infertility. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2008;198:210.e1-210.e7.
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 Mosby, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
