Female Reproduction / Fertility
A consultation with a naturopath/herbalist/nutritionist is recommended for the following:
- Fertility Issues
- Preconception/Pregnancy Care
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
- Endometriosis
- PMS – mood changes, abdominal pain and bloating
- Menstrual cramps
- Irregular periods
- Period pain
- Menstrual headaches/bloating/pain/clots/diarrhoea
In our busy modern world diet, lifestyle, stress and lack of exercise can take their toll on our complex female reproductive system.
Many nutritional deficiencies can contribute towards and exacerbate many female conditions. A nutritionist can work the client to identify what deficiencies relate to them and prescribe and adjust dietary needs accordingly.
Growing amounts of research today support the therapeutic value of many herbs combined with nutritional medicine for the treatment of many of the above female conditions. The number of cases treated in my clinic continue to grow month by month.
Herbal medicines are prescribed and nutritional advice is given on an individual basis. Dependant upon symptoms displayed, nutritional deficiencies, hormonal profiles, patient stress levels, and health of other supporting organs.
Fertility Issues
Research conclusively supports the use of nutritional medicine and its role in fertility, lower miscarriage rates and healthier babies.
Preconception Health Care
Natural Fertility Management offers you a program of preconception health care to overcome fertility problems and can greatly improve your chances of a healthy, successful conception, pregnancy, birth and baby.
Sperm can take up to 116 days to develop and mature, during which time they are vulnerable to damage. Likewise the egg takes approximately 100 days to mature before ovulation.
Poor nutrition, tobacco, drugs, alcohol, environmental pollution, lack of exercise, stress, oral contraceptives, genito-urinary infections, and other infections eg Candida, allergies, child bearing at an older age and stress are all important factors which may be harmful to sperm, eggs, health of the male and female reproductive organs, general health of both parents, and in turn the health of the baby.
Therefore 4 months of healthy living before conception will improve the quality of sperm, egg and pregnancy.
What studies or research is it based upon?
FORESIGHT, the Association for the Promotion of Preconception Care, was established in the UK in 1978. A study involving 1100 couples is currently being run with Surrey University. Another 2 year study of 367 couples was completed in 1992 where originally 59% of the couples had prior adverse reproductive history, including 38% miscarriage and 37% infertility (1-10 years). Upon completion of the study, 89% of all the couples had successful births of healthy babies. No baby was born before 36 weeks and none was lighter than 2368gm. There were no miscarriages, no perinatal deaths and no malformations. No baby was admitted to Special Care. In comparison to any similar sized population sample who do not practice preconception health care, approximately 70 miscarriages and 12 malformations usually occur. Natural Fertility Management extends this program to include herbal medicines for reproductive and hormonal difficulties.
Currently, one couple in six is infertile, one woman in five will suffer a miscarriage, one baby in ten is born prematurely, one in thirty is born with a congenital defect. At least one child in every ten suffers from a learning or behavioural problem and one child in five suffers asthma. However, medical research has revealed that all these conditions are frequently preventable with preconception health care.
Is Natural Fertility Management compatible with or after IVF?
Natural Fertility Management is ideal prior to undertaking IVF as it can resolve or reduce the underlying causes of the infertility and thereby actually increases the success rate of IVF. IVF does not address these underlying causes e.g. infections, hormone imbalances but bypasses them to force the conception to occur. As a result, IVF has a higher than normal rate of miscarriage, birth defects and low birth weight babies. However, naturopathic treatment is available concomitant with IVF treatment. In fact, nutritional support and stress management are vital for those undergoing assisted conceptions, e.g. IVF. No supplement that has a hormonal effect is given to interfere with the drug regime. Emphasis is placed upon boosting your nutritional requirements and stress management.
Benefits of Preconception Health Care
Females:
- Regulates ovulation
- Balances hormone levels
- Improves health of ovaries and egg (ova)
- Reduces endometriosis and improves uterine health
- Helps clear blocked fallopian tubes and improves tubal function
- Diagnosis and treat, hidden infections in the reproductive tract
- Treats Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)
- Reduces polycystic ovaries and management of insulin resistance
- Lessens cervical damage from erosion/infection/surgery
- Enhances quality and quantity of fertile mucous and reduces hostile mucous
- Reduces miscarriage antibodies and sperm antibodies
Males
- Improves sperm count, sperm motility, health and quality of sperm (morphology)
- Balances hormone levels and boost testosterone.
- Reduces sperm antibodies
- Management of varioceles and improvement in circulation and health of testes
- Improves health of prostate and quality of seminal fluid
- Diagnosis and treat, hidden infections in the reproductive tract
Pregnancy and Birth
- Normal, healthy, full term pregnancy with reduced complications such as morning sickness, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, constipation, heart burn, stretch marks, poor memory, mood swings, hair loss, skin pigmentation, bleeding gums, fatigue, susceptibility to infection eg thrush
- Reduced incidence of more severe complications such as hyperemesis, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, toxaemia, preterm birth and stillbirth
- Short and straight forward labour with reduced risk of post-partum haemorrhage, postnatal depression
- Successful breast feeding- quantity and nutrient quality of breast milk, mastitis, cracked nipples
Baby
- Enhanced physical and mental health
- Reduced incidence of congenital defects, even of older parents, learning and behavioural disorders or delays later in childhood
- Reduced incidence of SIDS: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, allergies eg. asthma, eczema, food allergies, poor immune system
- Reduced excessive crying, colic, nappy rash, thrush, teething problems
Statistics
1 couple in 6 is infertile
1 woman in 5 will miscarry
1 women in 10 suffers from toxaemia or high blood pressure
1 women in 4 undergoes a Caesarean section
1 baby in 10 is born prematurely or ‘small for dates’
1 baby in 30 is born with congenital defects
1 in every 3 women suffer from some degree of post natal depression
1 woman in 10 breast-feeds her child for more than 12 months
More than 1 child in 10 is affected by a learning or behavioural problem
1 child in 5 suffers from asthma
Nutritional Research
Below are a selection of research study results that illustrate the importance of diet on fertility, pregnancy and the subsequent health of the baby.
A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in January 2007 found that eating trans fatty acids e.g. Margarine, deep fried oils, processed foods, increased the risk of fertility problems by 70% or more.
Effects of poor nutrition at different stages of pregnancy:
First trimester
- Reduced birth weight
- Proportionately small body
- Reduced weight of child at 1 year after delivery
All trimesters
- Reduced head circumference
- Less than optimum brain development
- Reduced intelligence
- Increased risk of high blood pressure in later life
Incidence of Low Birth Weight in Australian babies 2003
Low-birth weight babies have a greater risk of:
- Poor health
- Longer period of hospitalisation after birth
- Developing significant disabilities
- Mortality: 30% of infant deaths is due to low birth weight < 2500gm, especially common in IVF babies and multiple babies.
Fruit and Veg Intake During Pregnancy is Positively Associated with Birth Weight
- Significant positive associations were observed between fruit and vegetable intakes during pregnancy with birth weight of offspring.
Maternal Vitamin D Intake Influences Children
- Women who have higher vitamin D intakes during pregnancy give birth to heavier babies. “For each one mcg increase of dietary vitamin D (food plus supplements), birth weight increased by 11 grams”
- Low levels of maternal vitamin D may be associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia.
- A steady increase of rickets and vitamin D deficiency was reported at Westmead Children’s Hospital (Sydney) in 2006: Cases doubled between 2002 and 2003 in the Sydney area.
Benefits of multi-nutrient supplementation
Shown to reduce the risk of:
- All congenital developmental defects in general by half (if taken 1 month prior to conception)
- Urinary tract abnormalities by 85%
- Neural tube defects by at least 50%
- Facial abnormality, cleft lip or cleft palate by 25 – 50%
- Some limb abnormalities by 85%
- Heart defects by 35%
- Low birth weight
- Brain tumours (if used in early pregnancy:1st week prior to conceiving and 1st 2 weeks of conception/pregnancy)
Symptoms of Low Iron
- Anaemia Symptoms: Poor stamina, shortness of breath on exertion, unreasonable limb fatigue, dizziness (especially on standing)
- Iron deficiency symptoms: red, sore tongue, cracks in corner of mouth, concave fingernails, reduced resistance to infection (particularly in children), recurrent thrush and poor digestion caused by low gastric acid levels.
Iron deficiency in pregnancy
- Associated with an increased risk of: low birth weight, preterm delivery, perinatal mortality, postpartum depression.
Iron Deficiency = Psychomotor and Cognitive Abnormalities in Children
- Maternal iron deficiency anaemia is associated with poor performance on mental and psychomotor tests in offspring..
Maternal Benefits of DHA from fish oils.
- Reduced risk of postnatal depression
- Reduced risk of preterm delivery or low birth weight
- Reduced risk of pre-eclampsia
- Reduce risk of poor concentration and forgetfulness during pregnancy
- May reduce the risk of dry itchy skin and possibly stretch marks
Maternal DHA Status Influences Childrens’ Health and Development
- Development of baby’s eyes, visual acuity, brain
- Significantly better hand-eye coordination
- Scored higher on measures of vocabulary and language comprehension
- The average phrase-length of their speech was longer
- Children scored higher intelligence tests at four years of age
- Children displayed advanced attention spans into their second year of life. During the first six months of life these infants were two months ahead of babies whose mothers had lower DHA levels
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