What to eat during an IVF cycle

I had always assumed that women knew what was a healthy diet and that they followed the general principles when going through an IVF cycle because they knew this would increase their chances of conceiving and also that their child would have improved lifelong health outcomes. However recent work has shown that women often eat poorly during their IVF treatment with many not having enough folic acid, iodine, carbohydrate or protein in their diet, with many still consuming caffeine and alcohol along with too much fat, salt and convenience foodc.
So this is a blog about what women should be eating when doing IVF treatment. Firstly, adequate folic acid supplementation which means 0.8mg daily and if a woman has a BMI above 30 then she should be taking 5 mg folic acid. The folic acid story is really confusing as many of the pregnancy supplements don't have the correct dose. The next absolute is to remove caffeine and alcohol from the diet, caffeine can be difficult as is present in a number of beverages not just coffee, such as tea, green tea, chocolate. coke and energy drinks. The NZ Ministry of Health Guidelines suggest women who are pregnant should be eating 6 serves of fruit and vegetables, two servings of lean protein, six servings of bread and cereals (preferably wholegrain), three servings of dairy (low fat yoghurt, trim milk), drink plenty of fluids, choose and prepare foods low in fat, salt and sugar. Here are the  Ministry of Health Guidelines . So eat well!