Mediterranean diet may increase the success rate of IVF

New research has found that women who follow a "Mediterranean" diet in the six months before assisted reproductive treatment have a significantly better chance of becoming pregnant and giving birth to a live baby than women who did not.

Researchers asked women about their diet before in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment and found that those who ate more fresh vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, fish and olive oil, and less red meat, had a 65-68% greater likelihood of achieving a successful pregnancy and birth compared to women with the lowest adherence to the Mediterranean-style diet.

Researchers assessed the diet of different women through a food frequency questionnaire when they enrolled at an Assisted Conception Unity in Athens, Greece, for their first IVF treatment. The questionnaire asked them about how often they ate certain groups of food in the preceding six months; the results gave the women a MedDiet Score, which ranged from 0-55 with higher scores indicating greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The women were aged between 22-41 and were non-obese (body mass index of less than 30 kg/m 2 ).

Researchers, led by Associate Professor Nikos Yiannakouris at the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Harokopio University of Athens, divided the women into three groups depending on their MedDiet Score: the first group had scores between 18 to 30, the second scored between 31-35 and the third group scored between 36 to 47.

They found that compared to the 86 women in the highest scoring group, the 79 women in the lowest scoring group had significantly lower rates of pregnancies (29% versus 50%) and live births (26.6% versus 48.8%). When the researchers looked at women younger than 35 years old, they found that every five-point improvement in the MedDiet Score was linked with an approximately 2.7 times higher likelihood of achieving a successful pregnancy and live birth.

Overall, 229 women (93.9%) had at least one embryo transferred to their wombs; 138 (56%) had a successful implantation; 104 (42.6%) achieved a clinical pregnancy (one that can be confirmed by ultrasound); and 99 (40.5%) gave birth to a live baby. Women attempting fertility should be encouraged to eat a healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean diet, because greater adherence to this healthy dietary pattern may increase the chances of successful pregnancy and delivering healthy baby.

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet may also help improve semen quality. Taken together, these findings highlight the importance of dietary influences and diet quality on fertility, and support a favourable role for the Mediterranean diet on assisted reproduction performance. The researchers did not find any association between diet and the chances of successful pregnancies and live births among women aged 35 and older. However, they believe this is because hormonal changes, fewer available eggs and other changes that women experience as they get older could mask the influences of environmental factors such as diet.
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Mediterranean diet can prevent prostate cancer

Men who followed a Mediterranean diet, rich in fish, boiled potatoes, whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil, and low consumption of juices had lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer PC than those who followed other dietary patterns like Prudent or Western diets.  PC is the most common type of cancer in men and can have a high mortality rate, evidence linking PC to specific environmental, occupational, or dietary exposures has been limited. Recent studies have investigated whether certain dietary patterns impact cancer risks, but the results have been inconsistent.

"This study adds important evidence to the scarce information regarding the association of diet with PC, and highlights the relevance of focusing on global dietary patterns," explained lead investigator Beatriz Perez-Gomez, PhD, Cancer and Environmental Epidemiology Unit, National Center for Epidemiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Madrid). Diet oriented towards the prevention of aggressive tumors in the prostate should include important elements of the Mediterranean diet such as fish, legumes, and olive oil, high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

The authors explored the relationship between the risk of having PC and dietary patterns as part of the MCC-Spain study, a Spanish case-control study that involved 733 patients with histologically confirmed PC and 1,229 healthy men with a mean age of 66 years from seven Spanish regions. Anthropometric, epidemiologic, and dietary data were collected.

Adherence to the three dietary patterns of Western, Prudent, and Mediterranean, which characterize the dietary habits of the Spanish population, was evaluated, The Western pattern includes consumption of large amounts of fatty dairy products, refined grains, processed meat, caloric beverages, sweets, fast food, and sauces.

 The Prudent pattern involves consumption of low-fat dairy products, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and juices. Finally, the Mediterranean pattern consists of high consumption of fish, boiled potatoes, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil, and low consumption of juices. The diets were graded according to the degree of adherence to each pattern and assigned to four quartiles from lower to higher adherence within each pattern.

Only a high adherence to Mediterranean dietary pattern appeared to be associated with a lower risk of aggressive PC. Prudent and Mediterranean dietary patterns showed different effects in low and high grade tumors. PC was assessed using Gleason scores of tumor aggressiveness (<6 or ?6) and clinical stage (cT1b to cT4). A Gleason score of <6 typically indicates a less aggressive tumor with generally good prognosis.

 Lower clinical stage (cT1-cT2a) indicates a tumor that has not spread. Results indicated that for more aggressive and more extensive tumors (Gleason >6 and stages cT2b to cT4), only high adherence to the Mediterranean diet showed a statistically significant protective effect. All other dietary patterns and tumor characteristics showed little or no correlation and did not achieve statistical significance.

There is a contrast between the relevance of prostate cancer in terms of public health and the evidence regarding its primary prevention. If other researchers confirm these results, the promotion of the Mediterranean dietary pattern might be an efficient way of reducing the risk of developing advanced PC, in addition to lowering the risk of other prevalent health problems in men such as cardiovascular disease. Dietary recommendations should take into account whole patterns instead of focusing on individual foods.
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Effects of DNA on dieting

Research in animal models with different genetics shows that one diet really doesn't fit all, and what works for some may not be best for others. The researchers used four different groups of animal models to look at how five diets affect health over a six-month period. The genetic differences within each group were almost non-existent, while the genetics between any two of the groups would translate to roughly the same as those of two unrelated people.

The researchers chose the test diets to mirror those eaten by humans-an American-style diet (higher in fat and refined carbohydrates, especially corn) and three that have gotten publicity as being 'healthier': Mediterranean (with wheat and red wine extract), Japanese (with rice and green tea extract) and ketogenic, or Atkins-like (high in fat and protein with very few carbs).

The fifth diet was the control group who ate standard commercial chow.
Although some so-called healthy diets did work well for most individuals, one of the four genetic types did very poorly when eating the Japanese-like diet, for example. The fourth strain, which performed just fine on all of the other diets, did terrible on this diet, with increased fat in the liver and markings of liver damage.

They measured physical signs, especially evidence of metabolic syndrome, which is a collection of signs of obesity-related problems, including high blood pressure and cholesterol, fatty liver and levels of blood sugar. They also studied any behavioral differences, from how much they moved around to how much they ate.

Perhaps as could be expected, both in earlier research and in anecdotal evidence in humans, the animal models tended not to do great on the American-style diet. A couple of the strains became very obese and had signs of metabolic syndrome. Other strains showed fewer negative effects, with one showing few changes except for having somewhat more fat in the liver.

With the Mediterranean diet, there was a mix of effects. Some groups were healthy, while others experienced weight gain, although it was less severe than in the American diet. The results demonstrated that a diet that makes one individual lean and healthy might have the complete opposite effect on another. It depends very much on the genetics of the individual and there isn't one diet that is best for everyone.
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Mediterranean diet for acid reflux

Eating fish, vegetables, whole grains and drinking alkaline-heavy water can reduce acid reflux compared to proton pump inhibitors PPIs. Gastric reflux is the movement of stomach contents back up into the esophagus- the reversal of the normal flow.

This is due to a poorly functioning of the lower esophageal sphincter, a ring of muscle at the top of the stomach that normally shuts to stop the contents of the stomach leaking out and up the foodpipe.

The contents are mixed with the hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach lining to aid digestion, so they are highly acidic. As the acidic liquid moves up the esophagus, the result is inflammation, which can be severe and may cause both cramp-like spasm and pain- classic symptoms of reflux.

The diet consisted mostly of fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts and barely any dairy or meat including beef, chicken, fish, eggs and pork. Avoiding triggers of reflux like coffee, tea, alcohol, chocolate, fizzy drinks, fried and spicy food.

Patients on the plant-based diet also lost weight and needed fewer medicines for other conditions, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Patients who ate fish, vegetables and whole grains have greater reduction in symptoms than those on proton pump inhibitors (PPIs).

Some of the patients treated with a plant-based diet and alkaline water have reduction in their Reflux Symptom Index RSI compared to patients taking PPI's.

The research focused on those with laryngopharyngeal reflux, this same diet regimen has implications to help patients with gastro-esophageal acid reflux- consists of fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts with near complete cessation of dairy and meats including beef, chicken, fish, eggs and pork. This is in addition to standard reflux diet precautions like avoiding coffee, tea, chocolate, soda, greasy and fried food, spicy foods, fatty foods and alcohol.

Plant-based diet approach with alkaline water and standard reflux precautions should either be attempted prior to the use of medication or with the short-term use of medication for more severe needs.
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Mediterranean diet can reduce risk of bowel cancer

Regular consumption of Mediterranean diet and reducing intake of processed food can reduce risk of developing bowel cancer.

Bowel cancer develops from intestinal polyps, it is associated with low-fibre diet and excess intake of over processed foods like red meat, alcohol and high-calorie foods.

Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional method that is described as eating more of plants based diet than animal.

Typical example is consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, vegetables, moderate consumption of fish and dairy products.
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