Dairy Intake Does Not Affect Pregnancy Outcome

The frequency of dairy intake is not associated with the ability for women to get pregnant, according to the results of a recent study presented at this year’s American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting.

Previous research suggests that dairy intake may affect reproductive health due to its impact on hormone level. Therefore, for this study, the researchers aimed to better understand the association between dairy intake and pregnancy outcome.

The researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) 2015-2016 that included biospecimen collection and patient questionnaire answers on health and pregnancy. Included were responses from 1366 women between ages 18 and 44 years.

The results of a logistic regression analysis indicated that dairy intake was not significantly associated with pregnancy outcome. Within a year of trying to conceive, 1055 women (89.94%) became pregnant, while 118 women (10.06%) were trying but failed. The women who consumed dairy regularly, as defined as consuming dairy 5 times per week, got pregnant at a similar rate as the nonregular dairy intake group (27.5% vs 28.87%).

After consideration of confounding factors such as dairy intake and age, the results indicated that age was significantly associated with pregnancy. Moreover, Mexican-American women were found to be significantly more likely to experience pregnancy failure than White women.

“This retrospective analysis showed that dairy intake frequency was not associated with pregnancy outcome among women in the United States during 2015-2016. The association did not differ when considering dairy intake alone as an individual factor or taking multiple factors into account including age, estradiol, race, or education level,” the researchers concluded.

—Leigh Precopio

Reference:

Yu L, Cunningham TD. Effects of dairy intake to pregnancy outcome among women in the United States. Talk presented at: The American Society for Reproductive Medicine Annual Meeting 2020; October 17-21, 2020; Virtual. https://asrm.confex.com/asrm/2020/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/6725