We Americans eat way too much sugar. It’s that simple. The average person in this country consumes somewhere between 150 and 170 pounds of refined sugar every year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Much of it comes in the form of soda and other sugary drinks. Now, there’s new evidence that these beverages could be ruining people’s chances of being able to conceive children.
Researchers from Boston University just published a study, and the results are pretty alarming. They found that if either partner drinks one or more sugar-sweetened drink per day, their chances of getting pregnant decrease significantly.
And it didn’t matter if it was the male or female that was drinking the sugary stuff.
The average monthly probability of a woman being able to conceive is called fecundability. When the researchers looked at more than 4,000 people, they found that females who drank at least one soda per day had 25 percent lower fecundability.
For men, soda consumption reduced chances of getting pregnant by a third! So these results are statistically very significant.
There are ways to be proactive if you’re trying to have kids. Here are my prescriptions.
Partha's RX:
- Men and women both should abstain from sugar-sweetened drinks in any form when trying to get pregnant.
- It’s a good idea for women to go easy on caffeinated beverages, too.
- Make sure you both take some time to relax and de-stress.
- If you need something sweet to drink, go with a little fruit juice. Just make sure it’s all-natural, with no added sugar.
