How to get kids to eat more veggies
New US research suggests that teaching young children an overarching conceptual framework for nutrition may be an effective strategy to get young children to eat more vegetables.
Women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) may improve their chances of getting pregnant by increasing their vitamin D supply, suggests a new study from Canada.
The observational study assessed the blood vitamin D concentrations and pregnancy rate of 173 women (aged between 18 and 41 years) undergoing IVF treatment (1). The study results showed that 55% of the participants had sufficient vitamin D levels (above 30 ng/ml) while 45% had insufficient levels (below
30 ng/ml). Women with sufficient levels had a significantly higher pregnancy rate (53%) than women with insufficient levels (35%). Additionally, the rate of implantation (when the embryo attaches to the uterus wall) was higher in the group with sufficient vitamin D supply (35%) than in the insufficient group (26%), although this finding was not significant.
The researchers concluded that vitamin D supplementation may be a cost-effective way for improving fertility and examining vitamin D levels as part of routine fertility assessment may be beneficial. More research is needed, as the mechanism by which vitamin D affects fertility is still unclear.