Supporting your gut health may help your baby dreams come true. Researchers have discovered that the microbes which reside in a woman’s gut may be associated with her ability to conceive. Ladies, this shows how amazing our guts are — our gut health influences many aspects of our overall wellness including mood, digestion and immune health — and why we need to give it love to keep our body working at its best.
The researchers first analyzed the gut microbiomes of 18 fertile and 18 infertile women. They found fertile women had a different community of microorganisms in their guts than the infertile women. This indicated the gut microbiome may play a role in fertility.
Prebiotic fiber nourishes the good bacteria in your gut, so the researchers then studied the effect daily fiber supplementation had on the women’s ability to conceive. The researchers used Sunfiber, the same prebiotic soluble fiber used in Regular Girl. How cool is that? Sunfiber is a powerful prebiotic known to nourish Bifidobacterium, a group of good bacteria, a.k.a. probiotics, that reside in your gut. Twelve of the infertile women consumed 10 grams of Sunfiber daily while undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF).
In case you were wondering: The current adequate intake for dietary fiber is 25 grams/day for women. It’s 38 grams/day for men. Most of us get just 10 to 15 grams per day. :(
Seven of the twelve women became pregnant. The researchers then studied the gut microbiota of the women with successful pregnancies and those with unsuccessful IVF treatments. The pregnant women had a higher percentage of Bifidobacterium along with a lower abundance of Paraprevotella and Blautia, before and after their four weeks of fiber consumption.
This preliminary study about this gut-fertility connection was reported in the Journal of Chemical Biochemistry Nutrition. These early results are very encouraging, and we’re hopeful additional studies will be conducted to confirm the findings. In the meantime, you simply can’t go wrong with caring for your gut. Be you. Be well!