Anything that you expose your to, whether it is the foods you eat or pollutants such as cigarette smoke, can affect your body and potentially, your unborn baby. It is especially important before conception and around the time of conception to be aware of how things in your everyday life may affect your chances of becoming pregnant and the heath of your baby.

In many cases scientists have not adequately studied the effects of environmental factors on human fertility. One of the reasons is that it is often difficult to isolate one risk factor, such as pesticide exposure from other risk factors for lower fertility. How ever it is sensible to avoid certain known hazards.

Food And Alcohol

Some foods are potentially hazardous mainly because they may be contaminated with pollutants (such as mercury) or microorganisms (such as listeriosis) that cause disease. These are covered more fully. Coffee and alcohol intake may also influence fertility.

Coffee

Drinking coffee is unlikely to reduce your chances of conceiving unless you drink a lot: more than than five cups a day may slightly lower your fertility. Try to limit your overall caffeine in take to 250 to 300 mg. An average cup of coffee has about 90mg of caffeine. Remember that tea and certain soft drinks often contain caffeine.

Alcohol

This is linked with some reduction in fertility but only if you drink more than 4-8 alcoholic beverages a week. An occasional drink is unlikely to affect your ability to conceive significantly. How ever it is best to refrain from heavy drinking mainly so that you don't have to worry about the possible effects on your baby if you do become pregnant.

Smoking

Smoking causes significant decreases in fertility. It's estimated that about 13 percent of cases of infertility may be attributable to cigarette smoking. Smoking also reduces the amount of oxygen reaching your baby. Smoking lowers the age at which women start menopause, suggesting that it contributes to the premature depletion of eggs in the ovaries. Unfortunately infertility in smokers cannot always be treated successfully with assisted reproductive technology (ART) because smoking can permanently affect the ability of the ovaries to respond to fertility treatments. Smoking marijuana has also been linked to decreased fertility, especially when it is combined with alcohol. The best time to stop smoking is now, before you become pregnant.

X-Rays And Radiation

The amount of radiation in routine X-rays should not affect your ability to become pregnant in the future. However, women who have had pelvic radiation for cancer may have problems conceiving. The level of radiation in any one diagnostic X-ray should not increase your risk of miscarriage, however it is always a good idea to tell the technician if you are trying to conceive so that your uterus can be shielded.