ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health and Nutrition
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1597910
This article is part of the Research TopicUltra-Processed Foods: Impacts on Diet Quality, Health, Consumer Behavior, and Food SystemsView all 3 articles
Consumption of Ultra-processed Foods and Female Infertility: A Cross-Sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, United States
- 2University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
- 3School of Nursing, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, United States
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Background: A high dietary consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) has been associated with abnormal semen analysis parameters in males; however, it is unclear whether there is an impact on female reproduction. The objective of this study is to assess whether high consumption of UPF is associated with female infertility. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of females aged 18-45 years who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2013-2018 was performed. Females were eligible for inclusion if they provided a 24-hour dietary recall and responded to a question regarding infertility. Foods reported during a 24-hour dietary recall were classified according to the Nova system. The relative percentage of total energy consumed from UPF and unprocessed/minimally processed foods within a 24-hour period was calculated. Results: The prevalence of infertility was 11%. The overall mean percentage of daily UPF and unprocessed/minimally processed food intake among respondents was 57% and 29% respectively. There was no difference in the odds of female infertility when comparing females in the lowest tertile of UPF consumption to peers in the middle (aOR=1.37, 95% CI (0.96, 1.95)) or highest tertile of consumption (aOR=1.26, 95% CI (0.91, 1.74)). Similarly, there was no difference in the odds of infertility between participants in the middle (aOR=1.39, 95% CI (0.83, 2.33)) or highest tertile (aOR=0.73, 95% CI (0.34, 1.54)) of unprocessed/minimally processed food consumption relative to those in the lowest tertile. In an intermediate model removing body mass index (BMI) as a covariate, an increased odds of infertility was noted among females with the highest tertile of UPF consumption relative to those in the lowest tertile (aOR= 1.46, 95% CI (1.01, 2.09)).Conclusion: Among women of reproductive age, high consumption of UPF is associated with female infertility. BMI is a mediator of the association between UPF and female infertility.
Keywords: Ultra-Processed foods, Infertility, NOVA system, NHANES, dietary intake, nutrition
Received: 21 Mar 2025; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Evans, Alur-Gupta, Martinez Steele, Meng, Knutson and Vitek. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Adam T Evans, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, 14642, New York, United States
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