High Protein Diet May Interfere with Conception

High Protein Diet May Interfere with Conception

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.A moderatelyhigh protein diet could reduce a womans chances of conceiving, according toresearch presented at the 20th annual conference of the European Society ofHuman Reproduction and Embryology. A research team from the Colorado Center forReproductive Medicine investigated the effects of a high protein diet onimprinting and viability of mouse embryos during reproduction.

The investigators fed mice a diet with 25 percent protein(moderately high) or 14 percent protein (control) for four weeks. The mice weremated and early embryos examined. According to researchers, only 36 percent ofembryos from the high protein mothers showed a normal imprinting pattern, andonly 65 percent developed into fetuses when transferred to other mice on anormal diet. Finally, only 84 percent of the fetuses from high protein micedeveloped further, compared with 99 percent of fetuses from normal diet mice.

These data show that eating a moderately high protein diet,which results in elevated ammonium levels in the female reproductive tract,adversely affects the preimplantation embryo in the living animal, said DavidGardner, Ph.D., the lead researcher. The available data certainly indicatethat a high protein diet is not advisable while trying to conceive.