What Does Nutrition Have To Do With My Fertility?

number of lifestyle factors, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, or eating a nutrient-poor diet. If you think of the egg and sperm as a classroom, oxidative stress would be unsupervised kindergarteners wreaking havoc wherever they play. Antioxidants, then, are our patient and hardworking teachers, stopping our children from drawing on walls and eating paste. If you are eating a nutrient-poor diet, your classroom is understaffed.

Omega-3s

The powerhouse of fertility fats, omega-3 fatty acids are a type of unsaturated fat that reduce inflammation by counteracting inflammatory omega-6s. Omega-6 fatty acids generally come from vegetable oil, and unfortunately, our Western diet is heavy in omega-6s and light in omega-3s. By reducing inflammation, omega-3s reduce oxidative damage, keeping our classroom nice and tidy.

However, omega-6s are not necessarily bad guys! We need them to help regulate metabolism, maintain bone health, and keep cholesterol in check, and they can also be converted into anti-inflammatory molecules. We run into trouble when our ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s is out of whack. Instead of reducing your omega-6 consumption, the American Heart Association recommends increasing your omega-3 consumption.(11)

DHA and EPA are the two most beneficial omega-3s for fertility and pregnancy. Not only are they needed for the development of baby’s brain, eyes, immune system, and nervous system, but they improve blood flow to the uterus and are associated with improved embryo implantation and sperm morphology.(12-13)

So, increase your omega-3 consumption by eating wild caught (when possible), fatty, cold-water fish 2-4x per week. This includes salmon, Atlantic mackerel, anchovies, herring, freshwater trout, and bluefin tuna. Limit high-mercury fish like swordfish, tilefish, bigeye (ahi) and albacore tuna, and king mackerel to once or twice per month.(14) If you’re not a fan of fish, you can also increase your omega-3s by eating flaxseed, chia seeds, and walnuts, though you’ll need to supplement with fish oil since these sources have much smaller quantities.

Vitamins Galore!

Basically, vitamins are organic substances that our bodies need in order to function properly. They are essential, meaning we can’t synthesize them ourselves, so we have to obtain them through our diet. Vitamins play a number of roles in our bodies, from helping enzymes do their jobs, to regulating body processes like metabolism, blood pressure, and methylation, to supporting our immune system and regulating hormones. If you aren’t getting enough vitamins, your classroom is understaffed.

The most effective way to increase your vitamin intake is to start by assessing your diet. Supplements are awesome tools to boost your intake and ensure you’re receiving adequate amounts, but, as their name implies, they’re supplemental! Our bodies didn’t evolve to consume vitamins as isolated pieces, but as tiny parts within whole foods. There is still so much we don’t know about the interplay of nutrients in our bodies, that opting for a pill over a veggie is just downright silly. Eat the broccoli. Your body and your baby will thank you.

Take a deeper dive into the role of vitamins in our bodies by checking out my previous post, Forgotten Fertility Nutrients.

Balanced Macronutrients

Embrace good food! Eat carbs! Eat fats! If you needed a sign to stop following your restrictive diet, this is it! I know that can sound scary for some of you, but restrictive diets can send a stress signal to your body that puts it in “no place for baby” mode. Optimal fertility requires a balance of what we call MACROtrio – fats, carbohydrates, and protein – to balance blood sugar, reduce oxidative stress on the ovaries, and improve hormone imbalances in men and women. It takes a lot of nutrients to fuel your fertility, so think of every meal as a chance to do just that!

Fertility Fats

Fats are not your enemy! In fact, if you are skimping on fertility fats then you may not be absorbing nutrients like fat-soluble vitamins from other foods you are eating (read: butter on broccoli is healthier than just plain steamed broccoli) and can be short-circuiting the creation of hormones like estrogen and progesterone. We need fats not just for hormone synthesis and nutrient absorption, but for organ protection, tissue structure, nerve impulse transmission, joint movement, and so much more. It’s almost like mother nature doesn’t want us to go on a low-fat diet?

That being said, certain fats definitely fuel your fertility better than others. Unsaturated fats like those found in avocados, nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, and fish help reduce inflammation (clean and tidy classroom!) and protect cardiovascular health, and are associated with healthier pregnancy outcomes compared to saturated and trans-fats.(15) These are the fats you want to fill up on first.

Saturated fats primarily come from animal sources, but you’ll also find high amounts in coconuts and palm oil. For decades, researchers linked high intakes of saturated fat with increased risk for heart disease, but recent research suggests this connection might not be as linear as it once seemed. What’s this mean for your fertility? Enjoy saturated fats in moderation. If you do decide to cut back on your saturated fat intake, replace those fats with unsaturated fats, not carbs. Some low-fat products may have less saturated fat than their full-fat counterparts, but they may be sneaking in more added sugar or additives to keep the same flavor or texture. So instead of swapping whole milk for almond milk in your Starbucks latte (which reduces protein and increases added sugar), maybe sub olive oil for butter when you’re cooking or choose lean meats like chicken, turkey, or fish.

Fats are not your enemy…but trans-fats? They are your enemy. While trace amounts of trans-fats can be found in some meat and dairy products, the vast majority of trans-fat comes in the form of partially hydrogenated oil added to food products to make them more shelf-stable. Trans-fats have been shown to increase the risk for high cholesterol, heart disease, type II diabetes, and stroke, and they create systemic inflammation.(16) In terms of fertility, trans-fats have been shown to reduce sperm count, sperm concentration, and semen quality, and they drastically increase the risk of anovulatory periods.(17) Thankfully, the FDA banned food manufacturers from adding trans-fats to their products effective January 2021, so if you live in the US, you’re officially in the clear. Woohoo!