Can high-protein diets get in the way of getting pregnant?
Perhaps, but it’s not likely. You may have heard about a hugely publicized study suggesting that eating a high-protein diet (25 percent protein) could make it harder for a woman to conceive. But the 2004 study was too small and preliminary to put the kibosh on protein-packed diets for women trying to get pregnant. The researchers compared mice fed a high-protein diet to mice fed a normal diet. The mice that ate a high-protein diet had significantly more trouble getting pregnant and carrying their babies to term than their counterparts. In presenting their results, the researchers suggested that the negative effect of the high-protein diet might be attributed to the fact that it raised levels of a chemical called ammonium in the female reproductive tract. Elevated levels of ammonium have already been linked to problems with embryo implantation in cows and mice. This study has two big limitations. First, it was conducted on mice, which are normally herbivores (meaning they eat mostly pla
