Female Infertility Advice, Help & Support

What causes female fertility problems?

A major factor is your age. As a woman is born with every egg she is ever going to have, as many women start trying for a baby later in life, the quantity and quality of their egg store or ovarian reserve will have started to decline. When a woman experiences menopause, it signals the end of a woman’s chances to conceive naturally.

Your lifestyle and environment can also play a big part. An unbalanced diet and unhealthy lifestyle which includes alcohol or smoking can have a negative effect on your fertility. Genetics and hormonal imbalances caused by medical conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can also lead to infertility. In fact, there are a variety of medical conditions that may cause infertility, such as blocked fallopian tubes where assisted reproductive technologies (ART) would be required in order to achieve pregnancy.

How can you improve your fertility?

Eating a balanced ‘Mediterranean’ diet has been shown to help improve female fertility, as it provides your body with the nutrients needed to help develop healthy egg cells. Ensuring your weight is in the healthy BMI range is also beneficial. Whilst stopping smoking and cutting down on alcohol can also help.

What you’re putting into your body matters greatly, as it fuels the whole baby-making process. Some nutrients are critical for supporting hormone levels and processes within your body. So supplementing your diet with appropriate nutrients is crucial, as it’s hard for any of us to eat the perfect healthy diet.

With that in mind, let’s run through your fertility hit list.

Healthy weight

Being too underweight or overweight can have an adverse effect on female fertility due to hormone imbalances. You should aim to keep your weight in the healthy range of the BMI scale to improve fertility.

Healthy diet

It’s been shown that a Mediterranean diet is optimal for health. The focus of this diet is on whole, natural foods, rather than processed ones. If you’re suffering from PCOS, focusing your diet on ‘slow carbs’ and avoiding sugary juices can help.

You can find out more about a healthy PCOS diet here.

Supplement

Add a fertility supplement to your diet which can provide the critical micronutrients to improve your fertility. Many PCOS women are deficient in myo-inositol but will be unaware of it.

Inofolic® Alpha contains folic acid, myo-inositol and alpha-lactalbumin, which aids the absorption of myo-inositol.

Impryl® contains a combination of activated micronutrients which deliver balanced support to your metabolism, essential to ensure it’s optimal for fertility and supporting a healthy pregnancy.

Exercise

Will help you maintain a healthy weight, but it also can help to improve your fertility outcomes. Obesity is strongly associated with infertility.

But at the other end of the spectrum, elite athletes should also be careful as extended periods of vigorous exercise can cause hormone imbalances and may result in a loss of periods and anovulation (not ovulating).

The option to freeze your eggs

One way to help reduce the impact of ageing is by freezing your eggs when you’re still in your fertile years, as the quality of the egg is determined by the age of the woman at the time of freezing.

This technology came about in order to preserve the fertility of young women who were diagnosed with cancer; their eggs are stimulated, harvested and frozen soon after diagnosis but before any chemo or radiotherapy to give these women the chance of a family post-treatment.

An increasing number of women today are choosing to freeze their eggs in order to help give them a greater chance of having a family in the later phase of their fertile years, due to personal, career or relationship factors. Although it can be quite an expensive process, more women are choosing this option — but it has no guarantee of success.

How does nutrition impact your ovulation?

Fertility clinics can help diagnose the causes of infertility and start the appropriate treatment depending on the findings.

Depending upon your diagnosis doctors may prescribe specific medication or surgical procedures as necessary. Fertility specialists may also decide that you are a candidate for some form of ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies) such as IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation), IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) or ICSI (IntraCytoplasmic Sperm Injection). These types of interventions are helping women who, without the technology, would struggle to conceive or maintain a pregnancy.

If you’re suffering from PCOS or other hormone imbalances you can be prescribed different medications with the aim to alleviate your symptoms. There’s no cure for PCOS. Fortunately, you can supplement a healthy diet with Inofolic® Alpha which contains myo-inositol for a natural way to manage your PCOS symptoms.

Impryl® is a supplement which will optimise your fertility and is suitable for both men and women. It does this by providing balanced support to your metabolism, containing activated micronutrients that help every cell: from the biggest (eggs) to the smallest (sperm). Impryl® can be taken in combination with Inofolic Alpha for a strong and effective combination.

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