BOSTON -- Every year six million American women have a difficult time getting pregnant. Doctors say most fertility problems are ovulatory.

NewsCenter 5’s Liz Brunner reported Sunday that two Boston doctors have authored a new book in which they offer ten lifestyle and diet tips. They said their research shows that women who follow five or more of the tips could boost their fertility by up to 80 percent.

“Women who follow five or more of these strategies have about one-sixth the risk of experiencing infertility than women who follow none, which is pretty impressive,” said co-author Dr. Jorge E. Chavarro.

Alice Domar is a fertility expert who specializes in the mind/body connection. She sees plenty of infertile couples who, on average, have been trying to conceive for three years.

“They want a baby more than anything in the world, and it's not happening,” said Domar. “It's exquisitely painful.”

Domar was intrigued by the advice she might find in the new book, The Fertility Diet.

Of the ten pieces of advice, the list of “don’ts” is short. The authors said women should not drink sugary soda, and trans-fats.

“There really isn't any good reason to be consuming them anyway,” said Chavarro.

The list of “do’s” includes daily exercise, a multi-vitamin, whole grain foods, healthy oils and lots of iron from fruits and beans instead of red meat.

One tip that may surprise a lot of women is the doctors’ advice that women trying to get pregnant should eat full-fat dairy products, including ice cream, temporarily forgoing skim or low-fat choices.

“My patients will love the recommendations to eat full fat milk,” said Domar. “They'll be doing Ben and Jerry's and Haagen daz by tonight.”

Two or 3 small servings of full-fat ice cream each week, or a glass of whole milk a day will do. Interestingly, the authors aren’t sure why eating full-fat dairy products helps fertility, but they said the short-term boost of fat from dairy products is beneficial.

The recommendations in The Fertility Diet are based on the sometimes-controversial Nurses’ Health Study. The project surveys and tracks the health habits of nearly 20,000 nurses, so the findings are observational, not tested in labs.

Chavarro and his fellow author, Dr. Walter Willette of the Harvard School of Medicine said their book contains common sense advice that could help any women, not just those already having trouble conceiving.

“Even before facing problems with fertility, I recommend it,” Chavarro said.

The important caveat is that their advice is intended for women who are experiencing ovulatory problems.

“For example,” said Chavarro, “Women who have blocked fallopian tubes, no matter how many changes to your lifestyle you do, its not going to unblock the fallopian tubes.”

It’s a critical sentiment that Domar echoes. “I just don't want people to get confused,” she said. “If you've got blocked tubes, or your husband doesn't make normal sperm it doesn't matter what you eat.

Domar said that sometimes the best thing for the infertile couples she treats is that they get back a sense of control that they are doing everything they can to get pregnant.

A woman’s weight also affects fertility. Being too fat or too skinny is a problem. Domar recommends a body mass index, or BMI, between 20 and 24.