The Study
Dietary fat intake and reproductive hormone concentrations and ovulation in regularly menstruating women.
This study looked at what women ate and how their hormones changed, and found that eating more of certain fats seemed to go along with small changes in hormone levels. But it didn't prove that the food caused the changes — maybe women who eat more fat also do other things that affect their hormones.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at whether how much fat women eat changes their hormones and whether they ovulate normally.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 557 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1These changes are small but may matter for women trying to conceive, especially since higher progesterone supports the luteal phase and lower anovulation risk improves fertility chances.
- 2Women who ate more total fat had 4% higher testosterone; those who ate more docosapentaenoic acid (a type of omega-3) had 58% lower risk of not ovulating and higher progesterone.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The American journal of clinical nutrition
Year
2016
Authors
S. Mumford, J. Chavarro, Cuilin Zhang, N. Perkins, L. Sjaarda, A. Pollack, K. Schliep, Kara A. Michels, S. Zarek, T. Plowden, Rose G. Radin, L. Messer, R. Frankel, J. Wactawski‐Wende
Related Content
Claims (6)
In healthy women, the amount of dietary fat consumed is linked to changes in testosterone and progesterone levels, but not to changes in estradiol, luteinizing hormone, or follicle-stimulating hormone.
Women who consume more total fat and polyunsaturated fatty acids have slightly higher levels of free and total testosterone in their blood compared to those who consume less.
Women who consume more docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3) have a 58% lower rate of sporadic anovulation compared to those who consume less, after accounting for total fat intake and other factors.
In women with regular menstrual cycles, the amount of dietary fat consumed, including total fat and polyunsaturated fats, does not change the levels of estradiol, luteinizing hormone, or follicle-stimulating hormone in the blood.
In regularly menstruating women, higher levels of docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3) are linked to higher progesterone concentrations.
When fat makes up 20% or less of daily calorie intake, the body produces less testosterone, estrogen, and growth hormone.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.