14 DAY TRIAL // In one of the first investigations ever to be conducted on this issue, a team of experts sought to quantify the effects that caffeine has on fertility levels in women. The work concluded that muscle activity in the Fallopian tubes is reduced, making it harder for women to become pregnant.
The new experiments were conducted on lab mice, but the experts behind the study say that the results provide an elegant explanation for why women who are heavy coffee drinkers become pregnant harder and are less fertile than their peers.
Fallopian tubes are structures connecting the ovaries to the uterus. They are lined with muscles, whose contractions push and guide the eggs to the uterus after fecundation. But caffeine was demonstrated to reduce the level of activity these muscles can display.
What this means is that the chemical does not necessary impede human fertility directly, but rather prevents the eggs from migrating into their correct position. Scientists are convinced that the results obtained while studying the lab rodents are applicable to humans as well.
“Our experiments were conducted in mice, but this finding goes a long way towards explaining why drinking caffeinated drinks can reduce a woman’s chance of becoming pregnant,” Sean Ward says.
The expert holds an appointment as a professor of physiology and cell biology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSM). He was also the leader of the new study, which is detailed in recent issue of the British Journal of Pharmacology.
Experts at UNSM discovered that caffeine blocks the actions of pacemaker cells in the Fallopian tubes. These cells are responsible for sending the electrical signals that coordinate the movements of the muscle lining. Without this control mechanism, the eggs cannot move forward.
“This provides an intriguing explanation as to why women with high caffeine consumption often take longer to conceive than women who do not consume caffeine,” Ward adds, quoted by Science Blog.
“As well as potentially helping women who are finding it difficult to get pregnant, a better understanding of the way Fallopian tubes work will help doctors treat pelvic inflammation and sexually-transmitted disease more successfully,” the investigator goes on to say.
The results could also go a long way towards explaining the physiology of ectopic pregnancies, which occur when the fertilized egg is implanted in the Fallopian tube, rather than in the uterus. The condition is very painful, and can even lead to death.