TTC and Tipsy!
Women Who Drink Wine More Likely to Become Pregnant, Research Shows
Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2003
By Jacob Gaffney
Women who drink a glass of wine or two per day may find it easier to conceive a child than women who don't drink or who prefer beer or spirits, according to a study published in the September issue of the journal Human Reproduction.
'We found that wine drinkers were almost 30 percent less likely to wait more than a year to become pregnant when compared to women who did not drink wine,' said head researcher Mette Juhl, of the Danish Epidemiology Science Center at the Department of Epidemiology Research in Copenhagen.
The research is a follow-up to an earlier study conducted by Juhl and her team. In that report, published two years ago, the scientists found that moderate consumption of alcohol did not appear to harm women's chances of purposefully getting pregnant; in fact, drinkers appeared to conceive more quickly than nondrinkers. However, the researchers did not analyze the results according to the type of alcoholic beverage the women typically consumed.
This time around, the authors wrote, they examined the data from the previous study in more detail to find out if a woman's preference for Chardonnay over lager or whiskey 'had no or perhaps even a positive effect on fecundity.'
All of the volunteers in the previous study, a total of 29,844 women in Denmark who intentionally got pregnant between October 1997 and March 2000, had been asked what type of alcoholic beverage, if any, they preferred to drink prior to pregnancy. And they reported their consumption levels: nondrinker, 0.5 to 2 drinks per week, 2.5 to 7 drinks per week, or more than 7 drinks a week.
The women were also asked how long they tried to become pregnant before succeeding. For the analysis, a period of one year was used as a marker for comparison among the groups.
'We found that wine preferrers had the shortest waiting time of all groups,' said Juhl, 'and that women who drank only beer or only spirits waited longer to become pregnant [than wine drinkers].'
The wine drinkers at all consumption levels had a nearly 30 percent greater chance than nondrinkers of getting pregnant within a year of trying. But the beer drinkers ranged from a 2 percent to a 7 percent greater chance, depending on their weekly consumption, when compared with nondrinkers -- a difference Juhl said was not statistically significant.
The results of the spirits drinkers were erratic, because few women primarily drank liquor, said Juhl. For example, women who drank two shots per week had a 10 percent greater chance than nondrinkers of getting pregnant within a year. In contrast, women who drank more than seven shots per week were 240 percent less likely to conceive in that time.
Women's fertility may not actually be improved by alcohol or by a specific beverage; rather, certain drinkers may have characteristics associated with fertility, according to Juhl. 'If wine drinkers have fewer infections that cause sterility, have more sexual contacts, have more appropriate timing of intercourse, or have partners with better sperm quality, this could be part of the explanation,' she said.
Juhl warned against drinking alcohol specifically to try to conceive more quickly. 'I would not conclude any public health messages from our study alone, since one study is not enough,' she said.
Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2003
By Jacob Gaffney
Women who drink a glass of wine or two per day may find it easier to conceive a child than women who don't drink or who prefer beer or spirits, according to a study published in the September issue of the journal Human Reproduction.
'We found that wine drinkers were almost 30 percent less likely to wait more than a year to become pregnant when compared to women who did not drink wine,' said head researcher Mette Juhl, of the Danish Epidemiology Science Center at the Department of Epidemiology Research in Copenhagen.
The research is a follow-up to an earlier study conducted by Juhl and her team. In that report, published two years ago, the scientists found that moderate consumption of alcohol did not appear to harm women's chances of purposefully getting pregnant; in fact, drinkers appeared to conceive more quickly than nondrinkers. However, the researchers did not analyze the results according to the type of alcoholic beverage the women typically consumed.
This time around, the authors wrote, they examined the data from the previous study in more detail to find out if a woman's preference for Chardonnay over lager or whiskey 'had no or perhaps even a positive effect on fecundity.'
All of the volunteers in the previous study, a total of 29,844 women in Denmark who intentionally got pregnant between October 1997 and March 2000, had been asked what type of alcoholic beverage, if any, they preferred to drink prior to pregnancy. And they reported their consumption levels: nondrinker, 0.5 to 2 drinks per week, 2.5 to 7 drinks per week, or more than 7 drinks a week.
The women were also asked how long they tried to become pregnant before succeeding. For the analysis, a period of one year was used as a marker for comparison among the groups.
'We found that wine preferrers had the shortest waiting time of all groups,' said Juhl, 'and that women who drank only beer or only spirits waited longer to become pregnant [than wine drinkers].'
The wine drinkers at all consumption levels had a nearly 30 percent greater chance than nondrinkers of getting pregnant within a year of trying. But the beer drinkers ranged from a 2 percent to a 7 percent greater chance, depending on their weekly consumption, when compared with nondrinkers -- a difference Juhl said was not statistically significant.
The results of the spirits drinkers were erratic, because few women primarily drank liquor, said Juhl. For example, women who drank two shots per week had a 10 percent greater chance than nondrinkers of getting pregnant within a year. In contrast, women who drank more than seven shots per week were 240 percent less likely to conceive in that time.
Women's fertility may not actually be improved by alcohol or by a specific beverage; rather, certain drinkers may have characteristics associated with fertility, according to Juhl. 'If wine drinkers have fewer infections that cause sterility, have more sexual contacts, have more appropriate timing of intercourse, or have partners with better sperm quality, this could be part of the explanation,' she said.
Juhl warned against drinking alcohol specifically to try to conceive more quickly. 'I would not conclude any public health messages from our study alone, since one study is not enough,' she said.
