Thomas Olivia, Kudesia Rashmi
Nourishing Our Community Program, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA (OT).
Department of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility, CCRM Fertility Houston, Houston, TX, USA (RK).
Am J Lifestyle Med. 2025 Mar 19:15598276251327923. doi: 10.1177/15598276251327923.
Women's reproductive health issues represent a major source of burden to quality of life, productivity, and health care cost, with uneven access to care. Foundational interventions based on lifestyle and food as medicine hold promise as one equitable way to improve individual and family health. In this paper, we summarize the lifestyle and culinary medicine approaches to two of the most common reproductive health diagnoses, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and infertility. For women with PCOS and/or infertility, an overall healthy eating pattern, including a whole-food plant-based or Mediterranean diet, carries clear health benefits. Exercise is of benefit in the PCOS population, and likely so for infertility patients as well. Both diagnoses are risk factors for anxiety and/or depression, and so more attention to mental health and behavioral strategies is needed. Given these findings, the notion of lifestyle interventions holds promise, but studies are overall mixed. PCOS and infertility can respond well to lifestyle and culinary interventions. These approaches, currently underutilized, can be implemented widely with minimal cost, and can also improve obstetric, neonatal, and child health outcomes via epigenetic phenomena. More research is needed to elucidate the best target populations and delivery methods for such interventions.
女性生殖健康问题是影响生活质量、生产力和医疗保健成本的主要负担来源,且医疗服务获取情况不均衡。基于生活方式和食物即药物的基础干预措施有望成为改善个人和家庭健康的一种公平方式。在本文中,我们总结了针对两种最常见生殖健康诊断——多囊卵巢综合征(PCOS)和不孕症的生活方式及烹饪医学方法。对于患有PCOS和/或不孕症的女性,包括全植物性食物或地中海饮食在内的整体健康饮食模式具有明显的健康益处。运动对PCOS人群有益,对不孕症患者可能也有益。这两种诊断都是焦虑和/或抑郁的风险因素,因此需要更多关注心理健康和行为策略。鉴于这些发现,生活方式干预的理念具有前景,但总体研究结果不一。PCOS和不孕症对生活方式和烹饪干预反应良好。这些目前未得到充分利用的方法可以以最低成本广泛实施,还可通过表观遗传现象改善产科、新生儿和儿童健康结局。需要更多研究来阐明此类干预的最佳目标人群和实施方式。