When preparing your body for a healthy pregnancy, nutrition becomes a crucial factor. The foundation of female fertility starts with prioritizing egg quality. While there are several factors that can affect egg health, did you know that supplements can improve egg quality and quantity beyond diet alone? Read on to find out more!
What can affect egg quality and egg quantity?
Egg quality directly impacts the probability of successful conception while egg quantity determines the chance of conception. Higher quality eggs mean that an egg is more likely to be successfully fertilized, resulting in the development of a healthy embryo and ultimately increasing the likelihood of achieving pregnancy.
The amount of eggs we have is set for life and the quantity and quality of eggs naturally declines as we age. Apart from age, our diet, lifestyle, and external surroundings can also reduce the quality of our eggs.
While we cannot entirely prevent the natural decline of egg quality and quantity, certain lifestyle changes and dietary supplements have shown promise in promoting better egg health, irrespective of the number we have left:
- Diet: An antioxidant-rich diet is linked to better fertility outcomes. This means a healthy, balanced diet based on the consumption of vegetables, legumes, fruits and healthy fats
- Lifestyle: reducing stress, avoiding smoking and drinking alcohol
- Supplements: taking supplements can support your intake of the many antioxidant nutrients alongside dietary sources.
The Role of Supplements in Boosting Egg Quality
Supplements can offer a natural and effective way to improve egg quality alongside lifestyle and diet modification. Essential nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants are important ingredients that nourish your ovaries, supporting healthy egg development. It is often a challenge to identify supplements that are likely to be beneficial, so we will discuss this below.
Top supplements for improving egg quality and quantity
There are potentially additional supplements that could boost egg quality for certain individuals. Here we present the top evidence-based supplements to help improve egg quality:
- Coenzyme Q10
This is a vitamin-like compound that plays a role in energy production. It is also a powerful antioxidant that can lead to improved fertility outcomes.
- Supplementing can aid with egg quality improvements, especially for those over the age of 35 (1)
- Combined prenatal supplements
Prenatal supplements usually combine folic acid, vitamin D, and other antioxidant nutrients.
- Taking a prenatal supplement that contains antioxidant nutrients may benefit sub-fertile women (2)
- Additionally, a prenatal supplement may have positive effects on AMH levels, a marker of egg quantity (3)
Being deficient in vitamin D is associated with poor egg and embryo quality and reduces the likelihood of implantation and conception (4). You can supplement with Vitamin D either individually or as part of a combined prenatal supplement
- Ensuring sufficient Vitamin D levels can have a positive impact on your egg quality
Supplements are not a substitute for a poor diet. You can take them to complement a healthy, balanced diet.
How to choose the right supplements
Choosing the right supplements is a critical step toward improving your egg quality. You may see ingredients labeled as “natural” or “naturally occurring,” although this can be a positive thing, it doesn’t guarantee that it is safe at all doses, that it has no side effects, or that it is compatible with other medications you might be using. Before introducing any new supplements to improve egg quality and quantity, especially if you have pre-existing medical conditions or are taking other medications, it is advisable to seek advice from a healthcare professional. Their guidance can help ensure a safe and successful approach to your fertility journey.
In conclusion
As you can see, maximizing your egg quality becomes an integral aspect of optimizing your fertility. In conclusion, by adopting a simple and non-intrusive approach, you can enhance your fertility journey by combining a well-balanced diet with suitable fertility supplements to improve egg quality and quantity further. If you want to explore how to optimize your whole diet for fertility with a focus on egg quality, take a look at our popular Egg Quality Guide and meal plan!
