Low-Carb Diet May Increase Fertility in Women with PCOS

PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome, creates fertility problems in women as a result of the irregularities in hormone levels that causes the cysts to develop on the ovaries. A new study suggests that a low-carb diet may improve insulin levels and thereby reduce symptoms.

In polycystic ovary syndrome, a woman's ovaries develop multiple cysts. Symptoms can include excessive hairiness, obesity, menstrual abnormalities, and infertility. PCOS is also believed to increase the likelihood of developing diabetes.

The lead investigator of the current study, Dr. Crystal C. Douglas, told Reuters Health, "Our results suggest that a moderate reduction in dietary carbohydrate may decrease insulin, and over time, this dietary modification may lead to improvements in the metabolic and reproductive outcomes in women with PCOS, independent of weight loss."

Douglas, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and her colleagues recruited 15 women with PCOS who were between 19 and 42 years old and ranged in weight from normal to obese.

The 11 women who were available for follow-up had each been put on three different diets for 16-day periods, separated by two 3-week "washout" periods, according to the team's report in the March issue of Fertility and Sterility.

The regimens consisted of a standard diet made up of about 56 percent carbohydrate, 31 percent fat and the rest protein; an enriched monounsaturated fatty acid diet with about 55 percent carbohydrate, 33 percent fat and the remainder protein; and a reduced carbohydrate diet with about 43 percent carbohydrate and 45 percent fat and the rest consisting of protein.

Compared with the standard diet, the low-carbohydrate diet lowered insulin levels. In addition, the usual jump in insulin in response to glucose was reduced after the low carbohydrate diet compared with the enriched monounsaturated fatty acid diet.

No differences were seen in circulating reproductive hormones.

Given these findings, the researchers conclude that dietary management may be a useful addition to PCOS treatment. As they explain, high insulin levels are thought to contribute to the hormone abnormalities seen with PCOS, so reduced insulin could lead to an improved hormone profile.

These results are promising and confirm my own limited experience with this disorder.

About a year and half ago, a woman joined the gym and bought ten PT sessions as part of her membership. She couldn't afford regular PT, so she did the best she could. Her doctor had told her to join a gym and start weight training as a way to manage her PCOS. She had been trying to get pregnant for more than two years without success when she was diagnosed with the syndrome.

I asked her to increase protein and cut the carbs back as much as she could. I also asked her to train four days a week with weights, thinking that being overtrained might reduce the testosterone levels enough so that she might get pregnant. We also put her on licorice root and pygeum root to manage the test levels.

She did what I asked of her. She put on muscle quickly and easily, but she also began to get more lean. After three weeks, our time was up. I saw her in the gym daily for a couple of months, but soon I had forgotten about her.

This winter, I saw her working out on the elliptical and asked her how she was doing. She looked a little pudgy. She said she gave birth to a daughter a couple of months before and that she was just getting back to the gym.

She had a rough pregnancy and had developed gestational diabetes in spite of the low-carb diet. But she had her daughter, and she and her husband were content to adopt any other kids they might want. They had one of their own.

I don't which part did the trick or if it was a combination -- or if she was just meant to have a daughter and did.

Anyway, it seems that low-carb diets are getting more attention as a dietary approach to disease. This can only be a good thing in keeping the low-carb approach in the public mind.