Infertility In Females Might Be Caused By Too Much Alcohol Intake

Experts are warning females to be extra cautious in their alcohol intake because it may affect capability to conceive a baby.

According to a published research in The BMJ, a study conducted by researchers from University College London reveal the uncanny relationship between alcohol consumption and fertility rate of female Danish residents. There were 430 Danish couples, aged from 20-35 years old, who participated in the 2007 to 2016 study. It concluded that the female participants who drank 14 or more servings a week had 18 percent lower chance of being pregnant as compared to non-drinkers.

However, the study was plainly based on observation and did not account factors like, regular vs casual drinkers and effects on menstrual cycle and sperm count. The research was also not able to specifically explain the reason behind the result. While male participants were reported to have no significant decline in their fertility even after subjected to several dose of alcohol.

Researchers recommended both couples to refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages with great emphasis on the female's preconception and pregnancy stages.

Annie Britton of University College London who conducted the observational study "Total abstinence may not be necessary to maximize conception rates because if alcohol is consumed moderately, it seems that this may not affect fertility. If a couple are experiencing difficulty in conceiving, it makes sense for both partners to cut down on their alcohol intake" as reported by NDTV.

The researchers suggest that to further verify the result, more researches should be conducted to explain the reduction of female fertility in terms of biochemical and metabolical evidences. The researchers also suggested to consider other factors like genetic factors, nutrition, lifestyle, smoking or exposure to second hand smoke, health history and diet to have a more reliable conclusion.

Meanwhile, infertility or sterility is one major problems in some parts of Europe. Hopefully this study could give some light to the potential cause of this problem.