Inadequate supply of nutrients through gestational diet can cause maternal and fetal irreversible disorders and retarded growth of the patients.
Fetal developmental adaptation depends upon the interrelationship between gestational diet and fetal physiology.
Inappropriate gestational diet alters fetal metabolic functioning, which affects improper organ development and functioning.
Consequently, a fetus in its adult life often has multiple metabolic, endocrine, cardiovascular, mental, and cognitive disorders.
Therefore, nutritional analysis during surrogacy is very important for the healthy outcome of pregnancy.
The surrogate mother may not conceive naturally, but during pregnancy, they need to follow all the nutritional recommendations same as any other normal pregnant woman.
An expert dietician recommends that during the second and third trimester pregnant women should eat 100 grams of proteins with vitamins, and minerals supplements and 300 extra calories to fulfill the additional requirement.
The founder of Jacksonville Center for Reproductive Medicine and renowned fertility specialist Dr. Michael D. Fox preferred low carb diet during pregnancy.
She mentioned that the keto diet improves weight management, which is essential for conceiving.
Also, avoidance of carbohydrate intake during pregnancy reduces the risk of an increased level of insulin secretion in the maternal blood, which affects the brain development of the fetus.
A whole food diet with low sugar and starch containing food is a good option during pregnancy.
Surrogates need to undergo the IVF process in surrogacy.
Therefore, surrogate mothers should focus on a balanced diet and healthy eating habits during an IVF cycle.
But you should not drastically change your food habit during this period; for example, you are not used to in taking gluten-free, but suddenly included in your diet during the IVF cycle.
Some reproductive endocrinologists have recommended a Mediterranean diet to their patients during the IVF cycle.
In general, the Mediterranean diet contains a generous amount of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, seeds, potatoes, whole grains, herbs, fish, spices, seafood, and extra virgin olive oil.
This diet plan also includes a moderate amount of poultry items, eggs, cheese, and yogurt.
Red meat is rarely included in this diet and strictly not to added sugar, sugar containing beverages, refined grains, refined oils, processed food items.
The colorful plant-based food items included in the diet can provide you with the necessary nutrition during the IVF cycle to fulfill the nutritional requirement of the body.
Research evidence also supported that the inclusion of the Mediterranean diet may improve the IVF success rate among young, non-obese women who are under 35 years of age.
Along with egg health collected from a woman’s ovary, sperm health is equally important for a successful IVF cycle.
Therefore, the male partner should also follow the Mediterranean diet to achieve the goal successfully.
You can include the following Mediterranean diet plan during the IVF cycle:
- Fruits and vegetables will be your primary ingredients to fill up your stomach
Select lean proteins containing meals. - Fish and poultry are good sources of lean protein.
- Farro, quinoa, and whole-grain pasta are good sources of whole grain containing food items.
- Add lentils, beans, and chickpeas to your diet, as they are a source of legumes.
- Sift from high-fat dairy products to low-fat dairy products.
- Include extra virgin olive oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds in your recipes to eat healthy fats.
- Add herbs, spices as a flavoring agent to your meal preparation.
- Avoid in taking red mead, processed foods, and refined grains
- Minimize salt intake.
Recently, surrogate nutrition markers are developed by researchers to evaluate nutritional adequacy and to address malnutrition to connection nourishment, surrogate markers, and outcomes.
Nutritional markers such as albumin serum levels, transferrin, pre-albumin, and IGF-1 and delayed hypersensitivity and total lymphocyte count may be effective to aid stratify risk.
However, it is not suitable to consider these as markers of acceptability of nourishment in presence of any sickness.
Ravi Sharma is a self-motivated, successful entrepreneur and has a solid experience in the fertility segment. and he is the director at ARTbaby Global (ARThealthcare). He is a pharmacy graduate with post-graduation in business administration and has 14 years of rich experience in the field of infertility segment. He loves to write about IVF, Surrogacy, and other ART (assisted reproductive technology) news, issues, and updates. He is a Pharmacy graduate (B. Pharm) and M.B.A (marketing).
His most recent success includes the successful launch of the medical tourism company, ARTbaby, which offers treatment options for infertility, egg donation, and surrogacy. He likes spending time with his family and writing about various aspects of IVF surrogacy and donating eggs.