fbpx

Research suggests avoiding alcohol when you are TTC

Obviously, drinking alcohol during pregnancy is a no-no. The jury has been in on that one since the early 1970s, and you won’t find anyone these days talking about a safe limit for drinking alcohol while carrying a baby.

However, what most women don’t know is that alcohol can also be a threat to fertility when you are trying to conceive. According to new research, even moderate drinking in the middle to the latter half of your menstrual cycle can lessen the chances of successful conception.

What sort of levels of drinking are we talking about here?

Moderate drinking for the purposes of this new study was defined as three to six drinks per week. Anything more than that was considered to be heavy.

What did the researchers find?

They found that moderate drinking during this period disturbs the delicate hormonal sequence needed to conceive. However, if you think that drinking earlier in the menstrual cycle is fine, you are going to have to think again. This is because the researchers also found that heavy drinking earlier in a woman’s cycle, during ovulation, could also disrupt conception.

The message

According to the researchers, if you want a baby don’t wait until that much-anticipated missed period to cut back on drinking. Over 400 women of childbearing age took part in the study, which was conducted in the US. They completed daily diaries on alcohol intake, including the number of drinks and type such as beer, wine, or something else. They then submitted monthly urine samples.

During the 19 months of follow up, 133 women became pregnant and the clear effect of alcohol was seen in terms of the chance of conceiving:

  • Teetotallers: chance of conceiving = 41%
  • Moderate drinkers: chance of conceiving = 32%
  • Heavy drinkers: chance of conceiving = 27%

What about the odd wild night?

Unsurprisingly, this also was found to be detrimental to conception. For each binge-drinking episode experienced in the latter half of the menstrual cycle there was a 19% reduction in conception. The researchers also found that the type of drink consumed had no effect on the results: beer drinkers were every bit as much at risk as wine and spirit drinkers. It simply came down to the amount of alcohol consumed.

What is happening here?

It may be all down to alcohol causing a surge in oestrogen, the female sex hormone.

The researchers said, “The increase in oestrogen can result in irregular cycles, delayed ovulation, or anovulation. So, couples could be trying to get pregnant at the wrong time in terms of ovulation. An increase in oestrogen can also impact the timing of the window of opportunity in the lining of the uterus for implantation after fertilisation.”

Whatever the reason, however, the study points to a compelling reason to cut out alcohol when you are trying to conceive.