Among the poor health outcomes linked to pesticides, air pollutants, plastics and other chemicals, according to the report from the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), an organization representing obstetrical and gynecological associations from 125 countries, are miscarriage and still births, an increase in cancer, attention problems and hyperactivity.
Tag: Human Reproduction
Understanding the Worldwide Contraception Crisis
In the richer parts of the world, contraception is often seen as a vital means of maintaining control over one’s life, but the prospect of an unwanted pregnancy isn’t, for most people and for the most part, a life-and-death issue. That’s not true for women in less developed parts of the world, though; there, as the authors of a new study in Human Reproduction point out, citing World Health Organization research, “after becoming pregnant without intention, many of these women are presented with a stark set of scenarios: risk of death, disability and lower educational and employment potential.” Their children also face heightened risks of dying at a very young age.
Male Infertility Linked to Increased Mortality
Men who were found to have abnormal semen parameters in an infertility evaluation had a higher risk for death compared with men who underwent an infertility evaluation but were found to have normal semen parameters, according to a cohort study published online May 16 in Human Reproduction. The higher mortality rate in these men may suggest a common cause of infertility and mortality
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Patients Who Freeze Sperm Before Treatment Have Better Chance of Becoming Dads After, Study Shows
A study published online Tuesday in the journal Human Reproduction provides more proof of the benefit of men freezing their sperm before undergoing cancer treatment.
WHO Appoints Director of Department of Reproductive Health and Research
The World Health Organization has announced the appointment of Professor Marleen Temmerman as the next Director of the Department of Reproductive Health and Research and the UNDP/UNFPA/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction. Professor Temmerman will begin in this position in mid-October 2012.
Eat for two — even before there are two
There’s so much about trying to conceive that’s out of our control, so it always seems like truly good news to hear about something we can do that may make getting pregnant (and retaining a healthy pregnancy) a little more likely. That’s why our ears pricked up at new research out of the Netherlands: A new study appearing in the medical journal Human Reproduction looked at the diets of Dutch couples who were planning to get pregnant, and then specifically at 199 couples who’d undergone their first cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Since we’re already told you this is a story with good news, you might guess what the researchers found: The healthier a woman’s diet before she got pregnant, the better her odds were of an ongoing pregnancy following fertility treatment.
Dutch dietary guidelines (what is defined there as a healthy diet) don’t vary a lot from what the U.S. government considers healthy (see ChooseMyPlate.gov for more on that), so this is good news for American women as well, since what we eat is one thing we can do something about, in a host of things we can’t influence. Says John Twigt, one of the study authors, from the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, in the Netherlands: “We would like to emphasize the fact that the preconception period is the window of opportunity to optimize the diet in couples planning pregnancy.”
What do you eat? Has your diet changed now that you’re TTC? What have you given up, and what foods have you added?
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