Egg Quality

You are born with approximately 1 million follicles, of which only 300,000 are left by the time you start having periods.

You will lose around 20 – 30 follicles each ovulation, and whatever else is left, will slowly degenerate as you age, typically starting around the age of 40, 10 years before menopause.

Your genetic make-up will influence the rate and age at which you will start experiencing degeneration of the remaining eggs.

Can we improve egg quality?

Yes!

Research is providing us with very promising data on this.

As the immature egg develops inside the ovary, you have a small window of opportunity to improve the quality of the egg material.

Look at the table below. This is a diagram of how the egg cells mature into an egg to be released at ovulation. The primordial stage is where herbal medicines and vitamin and mineral supplements have their window of impact – by improving the viability of the egg material, which may just go on to develop into a baby.

We want this material to be healthy and vital!

The human ovary showing follicle (egg) maturation over 120 days

 

The egg takes approximately 120 days to mature from the primordial stage into a viable follicle ready for ovulation. This gives EVERY woman a chance to effect the quality of the egg by boosting nutrition during an entire 4-month period.

10 key nutrients are needed to ensure healthy egg development:

• Vitamin A.Low levels associated with failure to ovulate.¹
• Vitamin B6. Improves egg quality.²
• Vitamin B9. Supports egg quality and maturation.³
• Vitamin D3. AMH levels correlate with Vit D deficiency..
• Vitamin E. Reduces oxidative damage of maturing egg. ⁴
• Betacarotene. Has a role in egg maturation and function.⁵
• Iodine. Maturing eggs are highly dependent on thyroid function and iodine is the essential trace mineral needed for this.⁶
• Iron. Enhances ovulation.⁷
• Calcium. required for egg maturation and fertilisation.
• Co Enzyme Q10. Protects maturing eggs from oxidative damage. ⁸

 

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