Nutrition for Those Trying to Conceive

Nutrition for Those Trying to Conceive

You’ve probably heard that you may need extra vitamins and nutrients during pregnancy, but what you eat beforehand matters too. There’s no magic food that guarantees conception, but specific nutrients and eating patterns can help (1).

Last updated: August 19, 2025

Nutrition and Conception: An Overview

The nutrition advice you’ve likely heard before — for example, eat plenty of vegetables — also applies when you’re trying to conceive. One large study found that maintaining a diet rich in foods like fruits, vegetables, certain fats, and whole grains was linked to higher pregnancy rates (2). Eating these foods has also been associated with a lower risk of ovulatory infertility, when ovulation doesn’t happen or occurs irregularly (2).

Adding fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, cutting back on sugar, and even including seafood as a protein source may lower the risk of certain pregnancy complications. Gestational diabetes and preeclampsia are two such complications that diet can influence (3,4).

Nutrition Tips When Trying to Conceive

You may have heard that pineapple boosts egg implantation, egg yolks make it easier to conceive, or dairy products cause infertility — but there’s no evidence behind these claims. There isn’t a single food everyone should eat to get pregnant. The variety of nutrients found in food, along with your overall health habits, all work together to improve the chances of conception.

5 New Eating Habits to Consider

1. Start Prenatal Vitamins Now!

• Begin taking a prenatal vitamin as soon as you can, ideally at least three months before conceiving (5,6).
• Folate (folic acid) in prenatal vitamins supports cell growth and reduces the chance of neural tube defects (8,9,10).
• Vegan or vegetarian diets may require vitamin B12 supplementation (11).

2. Add Fresh Plant-Based Foods

• Antioxidants: protect eggs and sperm from free radicals (12,13,14).
• Fiber: helps regulate blood sugar and may lower the risk of gestational diabetes (15).
• Plant proteins: beans and lentils a few times per week may improve fertility (16,1).

3. Swap Refined Carbs for Complex Carbs

• Avoid white flour, white rice, non-whole grain pasta, and sugary drinks.
• Replace with fruits, vegetables, beans, peanuts, quinoa, and whole-grain flours to support ovulation and gamete health (17,13,18,19).

4. Watch Your Alcohol Intake

• During pregnancy, no amount of alcohol is considered safe (20,21).
• Before conception, heavy drinking may affect ovulation and increase the risk of early miscarriage (22,23).
• Moderation is recommended, even though the impact of small amounts remains unclear (24,25,26).

5. What to Include on Your Plate

• Focus on fruits, vegetables, complex carbs, and healthy fats such as olive oil, avocado, and nut butters (27).
• Avoid excessive calorie restriction, which may reduce fertility.
• Fill half your plate with vegetables, and the other half with healthy proteins and carbs.

It’s Okay to Ask for Help

If making sure you’re getting all the right nutrients feels overwhelming, don’t worry — you’re not alone.

• Ask healthcare providers or nutritionists who specialize in preconception and pregnancy.
• If cost is a concern, focus on one habit at a time: vitamins → reduce alcohol → swap refined carbs → add vegetables.

References

1. Gaskins, Audrey J., and Jorge E. Chavarro. "Diet and Fertility: A Review." American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 218, no. 4 (April 1, 2018): 379-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2017.08.010
2. Chavarro, Jorge E., et al. "Diet and Lifestyle in the Prevention of Ovulatory Disorder Infertility." Obstetrics and Gynecology 110, no. 5 (November 2007): 1050-58. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.AOG.0000287293.25465.e1
3. Shepherd, Emily, et al. "Combined Diet and Exercise Interventions for Preventing Gestational Diabetes Mellitus." Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 11 (2017): CD010443. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010443.pub3
4. Ikem, E., et al. "Dietary Patterns and the Risk of Pregnancy-Associated Hypertension in the Danish National Birth Cohort." BJOG 126, no. 5 (April 2019): 663-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.15593
5. Haider, Batool A., and Zulfiqar A. Bhutta. "Multiple-Micronutrient Supplementation for Women during Pregnancy." Cochrane Database 4 (2017): CDO04905. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004905.pub5
6. Stephenson, Judith, et al. "Before the Beginning: Nutrition and Lifestyle in the Preconception Period." The Lancet 391, no. 10132 (2018): 1830-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30311-8
7. Silvestris, Erica, et al. "Nutrition and Female Fertility: An Interdependent Correlation." Frontiers in Endocrinology 10 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2019.00346
8. Gaskins, Audrey J., et al. "The Impact of Dietary Folate Intake on Reproductive Function in Premenopausal Women." Plos One 7, no. 9 (2012): e46276. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0046276
9. Chavarro, Jorge E., et al. "Use of Multivitamins, Intake of B Vitamins, and Risk of Ovulatory Infertility." Fertility and Sterility 89, no. 3 (2008): 668-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2007.03.089
10. "Neural Tube Defects." ACOG, 2017. https://www.acog.org/en/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin/articles/2017/12/neural-tube-defects
11. Rashid, Sabia, et al. "Review of Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Pregnancy." European Journal of Haematology 106, no. 4 (2021): 450-55. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejh.13571
    12-27. [Outras referências conforme o texto original]