For decades, infertility patients have been told to avoid caffeine consumption when trying to conceive and during fertility treatments. As we have previously reviewed, moderate caffeine consumption is ok, and could even help! New data is showing us that what you put in your coffee, could be more dangerous than the caffeine itself
We have previously discussed this topic: You are what you drink. This study looked at couples doing IVF and found that women who drank beverages with artificial sweeteners had lower pregnancy rates than women who did not consume these beverages. Similarly, any type of soft drink consumption (regular vs diet) was associated with worse outcomes: poor embryo development in the lab and lower pregnancy rates.
If you are doing IVF, avoid using artificial sweeteners or consuming soft drinks in order to optimize your chances of success.
Take home points:
- Men and women should avoid sugary drinks when trying to conceive, but particularly if they are using IVF
- Using artificial sweeteners is not necessarily a safe alternative to sugary drinks
- If you can’t completely eliminate sugary drinks, consider limiting your intake to <1 beverage a day.
