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- Title
A Nutrition Screening Form for Female Infertility Patients.
- Authors
LANGLEY, SUSIE
- Abstract
A Nutrition Screening Form (NSF) was designed to identify lifestyle risk factors that negatively impact fertility and to provide a descriptive profile of 300 female infertility patients in a private urban infertility clinic. The NSF was mailed to all new patients prior to the initial physician’s visit and self-reported data were assessed using specific criteria to determine if a nutrition referral was warranted. This observational study revealed that 43% of the women had a body mass index (BMI) <20 or ≥25 kg/m2, known risks for infertility. Almost half reported a history of “dieting” and unrealistic weight goals potentially limiting energy and essential nutrients. A high number reported eating disorders, vegetarianism, low fat or low cholesterol diets, and dietary supplement use. Fourteen percent appeared not to supplement with folic acid, 13% rated exercise as “extremely” or “very active”, and 28% reported a “high” perceived level of stress. This preliminary research demonstrated that a NSF can be a useful tool to identify nutrition-related lifestyle factors that may negatively impact fertility and identified weight, BMI, diet, exercise, and stress as modifiable risk factors deserving future research. NSF information can help increase awareness among health professionals and patients about the important link between nutrition, fertility, and successful reproductive outcomes.
- Subjects
CANADA; ONTARIO; RISK factors in infertility; PSYCHOLOGICAL stress; ANTHROPOMETRY; BODY image; DIETARY supplements; DIETITIANS; EATING disorders; TEST validity; EXERCISE; EXPERIMENTAL design; FOLIC acid; GOAL (Psychology); HEALTH behavior; HEALTH promotion; LOW-fat diet; RESEARCH methodology; MEDICAL referrals; NUTRITIONAL assessment; SCIENTIFIC observation; POSTAL service; QUESTIONNAIRES; REDUCING diets; SLEEP; VEGETARIANISM; WEIGHT loss; WOMEN'S health; PILOT projects; BODY mass index; LIFESTYLES; RESEARCH methodology evaluation; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; DIET fads
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice & Research, 2014, Vol 75, Issue 4, p195
- ISSN
1486-3847
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3148/cjdpr-2014-024