Maximise your fertility with nutrition

In this week’s video blog post I would like to share with you some useful information on how to optimise your fertility naturally.

Fertility complications are increasing in Australia and around the world. Female fertility peaks in our early 20ties, then declines in the 30’s and 40’s.

Male fertility is longer lived however sperm concentrations and quality have been decreasing over past several decades.

Generally, in western countries, we are having kids later and later and infertility is becoming an increasing problem for many.

We need to focus on few areas when trying to improve our fertility, for both females and males, as 40-50% of infertility causes are due to male factors.

The diet, lifestyle choices and reducing stress levels are extremely important but to get you to make better choices in these areas you may have to understand the mechanisms and processes behind it to make yourself implement the changes.

Firstly, let’s take a look at methylation which is involved in gene expression, detoxification, energy production, metabolism, hormones and neurotransmitters.  It is highly dynamic during early embryogenesis and remains relatively stable through life, determined by a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors.

Many studies have focused on understanding how our lifestyle choices can influence DNA methylation and gene expression and how this affects our ability to reproduce.

Some of the nutrients that will help you with methylation are folic acid and B12, coline and betaine. Having a good quality multivitamin, rich in B vitamins, is a great start to make sure you are prepared for a healthy reproduction.

Secondly, It is also advisable to avoid environmental hazards that are proven to alter our methylation, and gene expression and undermine our ability to reproduce.

These will be: Phthlates, most commonly used plasticisers; plastic toys, food packaging, household products. And Parabenes:, most commonly used as a preservative in skin products. Both of these are endocrine disruptors .

So, avoiding these chemicals when trying to conceive as well as when being already pregnant is the healthy way to go. Both of these chemicals show to influence our gene expression negatively and encourage development of disease in offspring.

Other hazardous chemicals to pay attention to are heavy metals such as mercury from fish, and benzenes and benzene which is found in Tabaco smoke as well as glues, paints and detergents., and other human made chemicals such as pesticides and alcohol.

In short, when you are trying to reproduce; you can maximise your chances of success, if you avoid hazardous chemicals mentioned above and eat healthy wholefood diet abundant in good quality protein, fats and complex carbohydrates, especially the folate rich foods such as green leafy vegetables, legumes and animal products rich in vit B12 are very important. Regardless the diet, supplement with vitamin B12 and folic acid, or simply have a good quality multivitamin supplement such as Tresos Acivated B pluSe by Eagle. Other advisable supplement to have is Omega Vital DHA + Choline by Eagle.