Genomic Functions – Health News

Posts Tagged ‘Pregnant’

One study suggests that women who eat the recommended amount of fiber would have lower levels of estrogen and ovulate less often than consumers with lower levels of fiber.

Among 250 women aged 18 to 44 years, those who ate the recommended amounts of fiber had lower levels of estrogen and other reproductive hormones. Increase your fiber intake, especially from fruits, was associated with an increased risk of anovulatory menstrual cycles in which the ovaries release an egg.

The results, published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, does not mean that eating foods rich in fiber is a bad thing. The fiber diet is associated with several health benefits such as reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer and breast cancer. Doctors recommend that adults eat 20-35 grams of fiber per day, depending on calorie intake. Read the rest of this entry »

Caffeine, a stimulant known, has been shown to cause irregular heartbeat, nausea, anxiety and depression. Now, recent research shows that caffeine can make it harder for a woman to get pregnant.

In analyzing the fallopian tube in mice, researchers found that caffeine interferes with muscle contractions that help move the eggs to the fallopian tubes into the úteroun critical process for a successful pregnancy.

“Our experiments were conducted in mice, but this result is a breakthrough to explain why consumption of caffeinated beverages can reduce the chances that a woman becomes pregnant,” said Sean Ward, professor of the Faculty of Medicine at University of Nevada, in a press release from a magazine.

“This provides an intriguing explanation of why women with high caffeine consumption often take longer to conceive than women who consumed no caffeine,” said Ward. Caffeine found in coffee, tea, colas, chocolate and certain medications.

The researchers said the study findings, published on May 26 in the British Journal of Pharmacology, could improve the understanding and treatment of infertility and how some of the complications of pregnancy.

Previously it was thought that the eggs are moved through the fallopian tubes with the help of hair-like projections called cilia, but this study suggests that specialized pacemaker cells coordinating the contractions that push the egg through the tubes. Read the rest of this entry »