Can Eating Certain Foods Really Help You Get Pregnant?

TikTok is full of content creators claiming that eating certain foods helped them get pregnant—particularly those with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormone disorder that can affect fertility and metabolic health. But how truthful are those claims?

According to nutrition and fertility experts, while certain dietary plans may help some people with fertility, no one food or eating style is guaranteed to get you pregnant. The relationship between food and fertility is nuanced, they say, and people should be wary of any absolutist health claims they may encounter on social media.

Videos making these claims “definitely can throw off our clients on their journey,” says McKenzie Caldwell, a registered dietitian nutritionist and founder of Feed Your Zest Nutrition & Wellness, a private practice that offers nutrition counseling for people who are dealing with reproductive health conditions. 

“People are just sharing their personal experience vs. what might be more evidence-based for the broad population,” she says. “We have to take them with a grain of salt.”

PCOS, fertility, and diet

PCOS is a hormone disorder that can make it difficult to conceive and may cause irregular periods, infertility, and hair loss, along with other symptoms. PCOS can also affect metabolic health, including blood sugar and cholesterol levels. There isn’t a cure, but a number of treatment options are available. For people trying to conceive, IVF and certain medications can help.

Nutrition does play a role in managing PCOS, and doctors recommend that people with PCOS eat a healthy and balanced diet. But some influencers with PCOS promote using dietary changes as the primary way to get pregnant by “balancing their hormones”—a phrase many health experts say is imprecise, not rooted in evidence, and a gateway to ineffective approaches.

Dr. Lora Shahine, a reproductive endocrinologist in Seattle, Washington and host of the Brave & Curious podcast, which focuses on fertility and wellness, says of the videos that she’s glad that “people are paying attention to overall wellness and lifestyle optimization to help their health,” but that it’s a complicated topic. She worries that some people may see these types of videos and delay seeking medical advice because they’re focusing solely on changing their diet.

Read More: You Don’t Need to Balance Your Hormones

“I do believe that eating well can absolutely improve metabolic health,” Shahine says. However, “I do see people sometimes who I wish would have come to see me sooner because they really have been trying to heal their PCOS and fertility at home with supplements and diet,” she says. “I think that that is an important piece of the whole picture, but it’s not the whole piece.”

Vanessa Rissetto, a registered dietitian and co-founder of clinical nutrition care company Culina Health, worries that content creators who don’t have a medical background but make certain claims could have a harmful impact on some people watching their videos.

“Of course you would rather figure out your fertility issues naturally through food than having to embark on an IVF journey, which can be very expensive and also very emotionally taxing,” Rissetto says. “I get it, but it’s a very dangerous thing to be like, ‘Oh yeah, just do this, and it’s going to work. It worked for us, it’s going to work for you.’”

Nutrition’s role in fertility

Research suggests that eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts—often referred to as the “Mediterranean diet”—can help with fertility compared to eating a poor diet.

Still, there’s no proof that dietary changes alone can cause a person struggling with fertility to become pregnant. In general, people who eat in this way “are probably healthier” overall, Rissetto says. “Maybe that helps to make fertility easier for them. But again, there’s no magic to that.”

Caldwell says she has seen some people on social media promoting gluten-free or dairy-free diets to improve fertility—including for those with PCOS—but there is “zero evidence” that it’s necessary to cut those out of your diet unless you have an intolerance. She says that it’s “probably actually less healthy” to stop eating gluten and dairy if you don’t have an intolerance because a lot of those foods are high in fiber and certain micronutrients.

Read More: Are Prebiotic Sodas Actually Good for You?

Another Internet-famous eating style is the keto diet, with minimal carbohydrates. Caldwell cautions against it because carbohydrates are important sources of fiber and antioxidants, which are important for overall health.

Anthea Levi, a registered dietitian and founder of the virtual private nutrition practice ALIVE+WELL Nutrition, says that there’s “merit to making targeted nutrition choices” depending on a person’s conditions or their fertility goals. A registered dietitian with experience in fertility issues can help. But Levi says that some of the claims she’s seen on the internet are “questionable,” such as those promoting raw vegetables and dairy elimination.

“I don’t think there’s any truth to the fact that we need to be eating raw fruits and vegetables in order to get the utmost benefits from them,” Levi says. “Cooking can often improve their digestibility [and] how well people tolerate them.”

Advising caution

Levi encourages people to check the credentials of online creators making recommendations. She says while certain foods may be helpful, “it’s never about one singular food”—and that many other factors, including genetics, can affect fertility.

“It’s hard to prove that any food or particular lifestyle choice is the reason you are or aren’t getting pregnant,” Levi says. “I don’t think any single food is going to be the cure to PCOS or infertility—it’s really your overall dietary patterns that are the most important when it comes to supporting your hormones.”