Skip Navigation



Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on February 28, 2007
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/dem019
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF ) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
22/5/1340    most recent
dem019v1
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Chavarro, J.E.
Right arrow Articles by Willett, W.C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Chavarro, J.E.
Right arrow Articles by Willett, W.C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

A prospective study of dairy foods intake and anovulatory infertility

J.E. Chavarro1,6, J.W. Rich-Edwards2,4,5, B. Rosner3,4,5 and W.C. Willett1,2,5

1 Department of Nutrition 2 Department of Epidemiology 3 Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA 4 Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology 5 Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

6 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA. Tel.: +1 617 432 4584; Fax: +1 617 432 2435; E-mail: jchavarr{at}hsph.harvard.edu

BACKGROUND: Dairy foods and lactose may impair fertility by affecting ovulatory function. Yet, few studies have been conducted in humans and their results are inconsistent. We evaluated whether intake of dairy foods was associated with anovulatory infertility and whether this association differed according to fat content.

METHODS: We prospectively followed 18 555 married, premenopausal women without a history of infertility who attempted a pregnancy or became pregnant during an 8-year period. Diet was assessed twice during the study using food—frequency questionnaires

RESULTS: During follow-up, 438 women reported infertility due to an ovulatory disorder. The multivariate-adjusted relative risks (RR) [95% confidence interval (CI); P, trend] of anovulatory infertility comparing women consuming ≥2 servings per day to women consuming ≤1 serving per week was 1.85 (1.24–2.77; 0.002) for low-fat dairy foods. The RR (95% CI; P, trend) comparing women consuming ≥1 serving per day of high-fat dairy foods to those consuming ≤1 serving per week was 0.73 (0.52–1.01; 0.01). There was an inverse association between dairy fat intake and anovulatory infertility (P, trend = 0.05). Intakes of lactose, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D were unrelated to anovulatory infertility.

CONCLUSIONS: High intake of low-fat dairy foods may increase the risk of anovulatory infertility whereas intake of high-fat dairy foods may decrease this risk. Further, lactose (the main carbohydrate in milk and dairy products) may not affect fertility within the usual range of intake levels in humans.

Key words: dairy/epidemiology/infertility/lactose/ovarian function

Submitted on October 25, 2006; resubmitted on January 2, 2007; accepted on January 11, 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Nutr.Home page
M. Messina, S. Watanabe, and K. D. R. Setchell
Report on the 8th International Symposium on the Role of Soy in Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention and Treatment
J. Nutr., April 1, 2009; 139(4): 796S - 802S.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
J.E. Chavarro, J.W. Rich-Edwards, B. Rosner, and W.C. Willett
Reply: Calcium homeostasis and anovulatory infertility
Hum. Reprod., December 1, 2007; 22(12): 3265 - 3265.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
D. Farmakiotis, I. Katsikis, and D. Panidis
Calcium homeostasis and anovulatory infertility
Hum. Reprod., December 1, 2007; 22(12): 3264 - 3264.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.