Hello and welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger.

Now I know I've made a name for myself and explaining how not to do certain things.

Just look at my books. How not to die in my upcoming book, How Not to Diet.

But what I want to share with you is actually quite positive.

What's the best way to live a healthy life? Here are some answers.

The facts behind today's story are quite astounding. Did you know that one in every ten

couples is unable to become pregnant and that's after a year of trying?

In our first story we look at a possible link between poultry consumption and female infertility.

Pregnant women in particular may want to stay away from all meat.

We learn that meat is so packed with sex steroid hormones that when pregnant women eat meat

it may affect the development of their son's genital organs while still in the womb

such that when they grow up they have decreased fertility. When moms eat meat during pregnancy it may

alter a man's testicular development in utero and adversely affect his reproductive capacity.

But in this study they just looked at beef and we know that all meat has these hormones

and they only looked at the fertility of the next generation.

So in effect this study showed eating meat may lead to fewer grandchildren but what about your

own fertility? Is there a direct effect of meat consumption on fertility in women?

Fact or fiction? Fact. And not just any study but the famous Harvard Nurses study which

followed 18,000 women trying to get pregnant for eight years and measured what they ate.

They found that meat intake was indeed associated with infertility adding just a single serving

of meat per day was associated with a 30% greater risk of anovulatory infertility meaning the

meat consumption appeared to interfere with ovulation and this increased risk was due mostly to the

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