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Gyna

Eating for fertility

What should I eat while trying to conceive?

The short answer

The evidence reviewed here does not establish one required fertility diet. For most people, a practical starting point is a varied pattern with vegetables and fruit, whole grains, beans or other protein foods, and nuts or seeds. That supports general and pre-pregnancy health, but the evidence reviewed here has not shown that it makes you conceive faster.

Low confidence Sources are linked. Not yet reviewed by a clinician.

How we check answers

What can I do with this?

Start with a varied pattern you can sustain rather than a required fertility menu. Treat standard folic-acid guidance as a separate preconception recommendation.

Personalize the details with a clinician or dietitian when your cycle, weight, medical history, medicines or treatment timing changes the answer.

But does this apply to me?

This starting point is for people trying to conceive who do not already have individual nutrition instructions. PCOS, irregular or absent periods, being underweight, previous weight-loss surgery, medicines that affect weight or an approaching treatment date can change the details.

Care and safety

When should I bring in a clinician?

These sources don't show that one eating pattern causes natural conception or live birth. Ask a clinician or dietitian to adapt general advice to your circumstances, and don't delay fertility care while you perfect your diet.

Understand the answer

So what does this mean for me?

What does the research actually say?

The fertility-outcome dietary-pattern evidence used here is mainly observational or from people having fertility treatment. It can suggest a link, but it can't show that the pattern caused natural conception or a live birth.

The two research reviews therefore don't establish one required diet or a way to conceive faster.

How does this compare with the official guidance?

The authority sources support a varied eating pattern for general and pre-pregnancy health. They also keep folic-acid guidance separate from claims about a fertility diet.

Their PCOS, weight and pre-pregnancy guidance is why this answer changes when a medical condition, medicine or treatment timeline changes what is appropriate.

Why is this our answer?

Nine sources sit behind this answer: seven health-authority pages and two systematic reviews read at abstract level. The fertility-outcome evidence is mainly observational or from fertility treatment.

Sources for each main claim

What else are you wondering?

Explore all eating for fertility questions

Check the evidence

How sure can I be?

See the full evidence snapshot and sources

Evidence snapshot

The same fields appear on every Gyna answer, including when the research did not report something reliably.

Question and decision
What should someone eat while trying to conceive? Give a practical starting pattern without claiming that one diet speeds conception.
Who was studied
People trying to conceive; the fertility-outcome research is mainly observational or from people having fertility treatment.
What was compared
Varied dietary patterns rather than one assigned personalized plan. No fertility-specific dose or required menu is established.
Outcome measured, and over what period
Natural conception and live birth are the outcomes this answer refuses to infer from observational or treatment-setting associations. A common time horizon is not reliably reported.
Kinds of evidence included
Seven health-authority pages plus two systematic reviews read at abstract level.
Studies and participants
Not reliably reported in the evidence.
What the evidence shows
A varied pattern supports general and pre-pregnancy health. These sources do not establish that it makes someone conceive faster.
Consistency and disagreement
General healthy-eating guidance is clearer than the fertility-outcome evidence, which is mainly observational or from fertility treatment.
Confidence in this answer
Low confidence that a particular diet improves fertility outcomes.
Strength of the sources
Authority guidance supports the practical pattern and care boundaries; the fertility-outcome reviews were available only as abstracts.
Review status
Sources are linked. Not yet reviewed by a clinician.
Who this does and does not describe
General starting advice; PCOS, irregular or absent periods, weight at either extreme, prior weight-loss surgery, medicines and treatment timing can change it.
Harms, trade-offs and when to seek care
Avoid restrictive self-prescribing and delaying fertility care. Ask a clinician or dietitian to adapt the advice when individual factors apply.
Last searched, and the records behind this
Last evidence search 2026-09-03. The source links are listed below.

Sources

Open the original guidance or study rather than taking our summary on trust.

  1. Healthy diet (fact sheet)

    WHO · 26 January 2026

  2. Optimizing natural fertility: a committee opinion (2022)

    ASRM · 2022 (Fertil Steril 2022;117:53-63; replaces 2013 version)

  3. Obesity and reproduction: a committee opinion (2021)

    ASRM · 2021 (Fertil Steril 2021;116:1266-85)

  4. Prepregnancy Counseling (Committee Opinion No. 762)

    ACOG · January 2019; Reaffirmed 2024

  5. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) (FAQ)

    ACOG · Last reviewed April 2025

  6. NIH NICHD
  7. Trying to get pregnant

    NHS · Page last reviewed 2 June 2026; next review 2 June 2029

  8. Mediterranean diet and female reproductive health over lifespan: a systematic review and meta-analysis

    American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · 2023

  9. Diet in assisted reproductive technology: what should we recommend? A systematic review from current evidence to tailored nutritional approaches for enhancing reproductive success

    Reprod Biomed Online · 2026

How we looked, and what we found

We searched the listed sources through September 3, 2026. The source list separates general and pre-pregnancy guidance from the two fertility-outcome reviews.

We only had the abstracts for those two reviews, so this answer stays inside what their abstracts report.

Who wrote this, and when will we revisit it?

Written by Gyna's evidence team from the sources listed on this page. The last evidence search was September 3, 2026.

Recheck this answer when the cited guidance changes or a trial compares a dietary pattern with general advice on conception or live birth.

Last updated
2026-09-09

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