If you’re one of thousands of people currently struggling to conceive, swapping your usual diet for a fertility diet can be one simple lifestyle change that can boost your chances of becoming pregnant.

While you can’t guarantee fertility, when it comes to how to get pregnant, you can make lifestyle choices that give you the best chance. For both men and women, what you eat affects the likelihood of pregnancy.

Popularized by Harvard researchers in 2007, the term fertility diet was coined after they noticed a pattern between the nutritional choices women were making and whether or not they became pregnant. Since then, research interest into the area of male and female fertility has boomed, resulting in an avalanche of information that can often feel overwhelming for those of us trying to conceive.

To help make things a little easier, we’ve sifted through the research and consulted an expert for their perspective, unpacking the science behind the fertility diet so that you feel empowered to make informed decisions about what to eat — and what not to eat.

Often, nutritional advice focuses solely on women. But it takes two to tango. It’s crucial to consider both partner’s food choices. We’ll cover what men and women should eat as part of a fertility diet — and the differences may surprise you.

Seek advice from a health professional if you’ve been trying to conceive for 12 months if you’re a woman under 35, and six months if you’re over 35. If you suspect you might be pregnant or simply want to know what to look out for, our guide ‘Am I pregnant?’ outlines the early signs to watch for.

How does diet affect fertility?

“A healthy diet correlates with better sperm quality, including sperm count,” says Theresa Gentile, registered dietitian and national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Conversely, obesity and a high fat diet affect the structure of sperm and sperm count. Obesity also negatively affects female fertility.”