Caffeine Affects Woman’s Fertility

A study has been published that reveals a link between caffeine intake and delayed conception in women; in certain cases too much caffeine can even result in infertility due to its adverse influence on the reproductive system.

Boffins from the University of Nevada fed caffeine to mice, whose reproductive system resembles that of humans, and found that it produces a particular effect on the fallopian tubes making their smooth muscles more relaxed and loose.

When the egg is to get transported, explains author Sean Ward in the article published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, it’s up to the fallopian tube muscles to provide the necessary impetus – but caffeine interferes with the proper contractions, with the effect that the common run of pregnancy gets disrupted or the woman can develop ectopic pregnancy, that is the embryo is unable to find its way past the fallopian tube and begins to develop there.

It helps understand the processes that lead to ectopic pregnancy, which is “an extremely painful and potentially life-threatening situation in which embryos get stuck and start developing inside a woman’s fallopian tube.”

The experiments on mice, as Ward points out, revealed a lot about how the intake of caffeine tampers with the natural process of child-bearing in women, and go to show that a high consumption of caffeine containing drinks lowers the chance of a healthy and successful pregnancy.

Besides, the new insight into the functionality of the fallopian tubes can give doctors valuable hints towards a better treatment of pelvic inflammation and sexually transmitted diseases.

Source of the image: Photl.