Enhancing Egg Quality: What You Need to Know

If you’ve decided to conceive, especially if you’re past the age of 40, you may be wondering whether your age is having an effect on the quality of your eggs. The reality is that while your lifestyle and diet can play a role on egg quality, age is one of the greatest factors in the genetic makeup of your eggs. Sadly, the chances of having genetically compromised eggs increases from about 31% in 30-year-old women to over 80% in women who are 45.

Age and Egg Quality

Needless to say, poor egg quality is a major factor in reduced pregnancy rates and more frequent pregnancy loss in women who are over the age of 40. This is because as you age, the ovarian environment that your eggs spend their last three months in declines.

While this may sound like doom and gloom, there is some good news, and it’s the fact that there are a number of things you can do to appreciably improve your ovarian environment, which can help you produce more viable eggs.

The Role of Acupuncture in Fertility

One of my areas of passion as an acupuncturist is fertility. That’s because I’ve seen how well acupuncture can help women who are trying to become pregnant. The numbers speak for themselves: in a 2023 review of research studies on the benefits of acupuncture during IVF, scientists found that with acupuncture, implantations rates, IVF pregnancy rates, and live birth rates increased. In addition, the risk of early miscarriage decreased.

Acupuncture helps improve pregnancy rates because it increases circulation to your ovaries and uterus, promotes a sense of calm and reduces stress, helps to balance your hormones and increases uterine receptivity to implantation. In addition, Chinese herbal medicine, a modality that goes hand in hand with acupuncture, promotes reproductive health by reducing inflammation, helping to balance hormones, and addressing other health issues that may be impacting your fertility.

Cold Laser for Sperm & Egg Quality

When working with fertility patients, I often incorporate the use of cold laser therapy, which is a type of light therapy. It too promotes circulation and addresses inflammation, but it also positively affects cells deep within your tissues. Some of the earliest research on cold laser therapy shows that it can help improve the quality of both eggs and sperm, improve ovarian function and promote a healthy uterine lining, making it more welcoming to implantation. Cold laser is also helpful in treating health conditions that can affect your fertility, such as PCOS and endometriosis.

Lifestyle Factors for Egg Health

There are a number of dietary and lifestyle changes that you can make to enhance the quality of your eggs. This is true whether you’re trying to conceive on your own, know that you have diminished ovarian reserve, are undergoing fertility treatments, or are trying to conceive and over the age of 40.

First, it’s helpful to know it takes about three months for an egg to mature, from being in reserve to ovulation. This means that the quality of your eggs is established by the environment in your ovaries over the prior three months of each egg’s maturation cycle. So ideally making healthy changes are best begun several months before you try to conceive. However, other aspects of your fertility, such as hormone balance and endometrial lining, can improve in a much shorter timeframe.

Here are some science-backed ways to help improve the quality of your eggs:

Dietary Choices to Support Egg Quality and Fertility

Getting the right nutrients in your diet is one of the best ways to directly impact your fertility in a positive way.

• Go for meals that contain good fats but are lower in carbs. Rebalancing the fat/carb ratio helps control inflammation and balance the hormones necessary for good reproductive health and fertility.
• Choose foods that have high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, as scientist have found omega-3’s can help prolong fertility and improve the quality of your eggs. Healthy high omega-3 foods include cold water fish, sea weed, raw seeds, nuts and legumes, such as kidney beans and lentils.
• Look for foods containing high levels of Vitamin A, which can help support egg quality, ovarian response and embryo development. Vitamin A is found in many yellow/orange fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, cantaloupe and sweet potatoes, as well as in dairy products, eggs, liver and fish.
• Don’t reduce all fats. Lipids form the membrane around every cell in your body, and is key to supporting cellular growth. They’re also important in the production of your body’s hormones and in absorbing nutrients in your gut.
• Cut down on your alcohol and caffeine intake, because in high enough amounts they can have a negative impact on your fertility (and your pregnancy).

Sleep & Reproductive Health

Get enough good quality sleep. Your body heals itself, replenishes your energy and releases reproductive and other kinds of hormones while you sleep. Your brain also releases melatonin to help you sleep, which is important in supporting your body’s biological clock. Scientists have found that both getting enough sleep and adequate melatonin production can help reinforce good reproductive health, including egg quality.

Managing Stress for you Fertility

I know, sometimes it’s hard to avoid stressful situations, people and life events. However, acupuncture treatments, meditation, yoga, light exercise and other calming activities are worth your while, because chronic stress tends to put some of the bodily systems not needed in the moment on the back burner. This includes things like digestion, immunity and reproduction. In addition, the stress response causes an upset in the balance of your hormones, which can have a negative impact on ovulation and the production of good quality eggs.

Smoking and Fertility

If you’re a smoker, there’s no better time than now to quit. The laundry list of how smoking impacts your fertility is long; it reduces the quality and number of eggs you produce, increases the number of abnormal eggs by causing mutations in their DNA, and it decreases the number of eggs that you produce. Like dealing with stress, quitting smoking is easier said than done, but acupuncture can a great supportive treatment, as it can reduce the frequency and intensity of tobacco cravings.

Environmental Toxins and Fertility

Pay attention and reduce your exposure to environmental toxins. This includes smoke, air pollution and things like household exposure to endocrine disruptors, such as plastics (which contains BPA and other toxins) and some cosmetics. Hormone disruptors mess with the balance of your hormones and can negatively impact your fertility, as well as the quality of your eggs. Avoid storing and microwaving your food in plastic containers.

Personalized Fertility Plans

The truth is that trying to conceive can feel like a daunting undertaking, especially if you’re facing fertility issues or trying after the age of 40. Fortunately, there are steps that you can take, such as incorporating acupuncture, dietary and lifestyle changes into your plan, that can make a very real difference. Everyone’s journey is different, so fertility plans will be tailored to your specific needs. If you’d like to know more about how acupuncture or the treatments that I offer can support you in your fertility journey, please contact me.

 

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