PhD Student Wins Top Prize for Abstract at Reproductive Medicine Conference.

School of Public Health doctoral student Sydney Willis received a Prize Paper award from the Nutrition Special Interest Group of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) for her abstract titled “Glycemic Load, Dietary Fiber, and Added Sugar and Fecundability in a North American Preconception Cohort.” Her abstract received the top score of all nutrition abstracts submitted to the conference.

Willis received a certificate and a cash prize at ASRM’s Scientific Congress & Expo on October 8 in Denver, Colo.

A second-year PhD student studying epidemiology, Willis is particularly interested in nutrition and reproductive outcomes. Her abstract was based on research investigating whether there is an association between women’s diets and their probability of becoming pregnant.

Willis and her research team used data from Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), Boston University’s web-based research study that examines the impact of lifestyle factors on fertility and pregnancy. Participants completed a baseline survey on lifestyle, demographics, and reproductive factors, as well as a food frequency questionnaire, from which Willis calculated their intake of glycemic load (a ranking of how a person’s carbohydrate intake affects one’s glucose level), fiber, and added sugars.

From that information, Willis found that diets with a higher glycemic load and higher added sugars were associated with a longer time to pregnancy, while a higher intake of insoluble fiber was associated with a slightly shorter time to pregnancy.

“Foods such as soft drinks, sweetened bottled water, and liquid meal replacements were the top three foods that contributed to a higher glycemic load, and foods such as nuts, seeds, and bananas contributed to a higher fiber load,” Willis says.

After she completes the PhD program, Willis plans to pursue a career in academia as a research professor. She says that one area of reproductive health that needs more attention and research is nutrition and male reproductive health.

“There are very few studies that have included men because men are less likely to participate in reproductive health research,” Willis says. “While PRESTO includes more male participants than any previous prospective cohort study of male fertility, more work needs to be done to understand the extent to which male diet is important for fertility. It is an exciting area of the field.”

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to education, advocacy and standards in the field of reproductive medicine. The goal of the Nutrition Special Interest Group is to conduct evidence-based research to understand the role of nutrition in reproductive health.

—Jillian McKoy