Fertility Diet for Women in Persian Medicine

Dear Editor-in-Chief

Infertility is defined as the inability to bring the child after one year of unprotected intercourse. Infertility prevalence in the world is about 15% (1). Today, the prevalence of infertility is rising due to changes in lifestyle (2). In general, the nutrition and lifestyle play an important role in the treatment infertility.

Nutrition and eating habits in Persian Medicine (PM) are especially important as far as Razi (the great Iranian scientist and physician) believes that do not take medication when you can treat the patient with food (3, 4). Infertility treatment in PM, is divided as nutritional and non-nutritional plans (5, 6). From Persian medicine’s point of view, to produce qualify sperm or ovum, the heart must have a good blood supply to the organs, and the liver and brain also must have a good function. Meanwhile, the digestive system should work well to digest the food properly and deliver it to other organs. Food should also have good quality so that it can play a good role in the reproductive process (6, 7). Food can directly affect the reproductive system, including the uterus and ovaries, and produce semen properly or indirectly, by strengthening the body main organs, including the liver, the brain and the heart, as well as strengthening the digestive system, and interacts with the reproductive system, helps to infertility treatment. Recommended foods in PM for the treatment of infertility are presented in the form of a dietary program in Table 1.

Table 1:

Proposed meal plan based on Persian medicine for infertility

Meal	Kind of food
Breakfast	James types included (apple, citron, carrot, parsnip, quince and rose), fresh animal butter, honey, egg cooked with onions and olive oil, Soft-boiled egg yolks with Sangak * bread or oat bread or taftoon bread
Lunch	Types of stews including apple and quince stew, carrot stew, okra stew, pumpkin stew, Fesenjan stew with walnuts and almonds, almond slices stew [stew with amandine] and pistachio stew with rice, or with Sangak bread or oat bread or taftoon bread. Pilaf (Dill and Broad
Dinner	Bean Cooked Rice ) with Chicken or lamb or goat, barbecues, Iranian chicken and lamb kebab, chickpea potage [Nokhodab] ** (8), chickpea and bean Kuku rice pudding with honey or grape juice, Taskebab (apple and quince stew), acanthus stew, chickpea Kuku, Falafel (a deep-fried ball made from chickpeas), meatball, Sfidbaj *** (8, 9) (a kind of potage), Barley soup and potage, Onion soup, barbecues, Shrimp Feed, Chicken Feed, with Sangak bread or oat bread or taftoon bread
Snack	Porridge, Almonds Gruel, Carrot Halva, Milk with cinnamon or ginger, Four brains mixture (combining almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios and walnuts with honey), Samanu (kind of dessert prepared from the juice of germinating wheat), Kakoli (a native bread), apple and quince tea, Almond milk (almond, honey and water), Kachi **** , verity of germ (wheat, Alfalfa, Clover,...) Natural juices and Fruits including sweet pomegranate, mango, grapes, figs, plums, apple, quince, berries, dates, apricots, olive, peaches, raisins, pears, sweet lemons, coconut, dew melon and dried fruits allowed
Bedtime	Milk with Honey, Grape juice, Jollab Syrup ***** (8, 10)

^*Sangak: an Iranian whole-wheat sourdough baked on a bed of small river stones in an oven.

^**Nokhodab: cook chickpea with chicken or lamb meat in water, a little rice and a little saffron, cinnamon, cumin and salt.

^***Sfidbaj: food made from chicken, lamb, goat meat and vegetables and legumes, and spinach or squash, mung bean, and pearl barley, which does not have a predominant taste, and cooked with appropriate spices. //

^****Kachi: an Iranian dessert made with flour, sugar, rose water, butter, oil and saffron. //

^*****Jollab: A mixture of rose water, saffron, white rock candy, and water