Fertility Supplements

Pure and Natural Ireland

Below I have chosen my favourite supplements to support fertility from Pure and Natural Ireland.  You can use my code NBN10 for 10% off and delivery is only €2.80 or free on orders over €75.  You will be prompted to register an account in order to place any of the products in your basket.  IMPORTANT* make sure you enter the discount code into the box where it asks for the practitioner name or code.  The 10% will stay active on your account for any future orders.  

Disclaimer

If you are taking any medication or have a medical condition, please check with your doctor before starting any new supplement regime.

Non Negotiables

When it comes to having a healthy pregnancy there are 4 really important supplements:

  • Prenatal 
  • Fish Oil 
  • Probiotic
  • Vitamin D during the winter. 

For males a good place to start is a prenatal and a fish oil (unless they are eating 2-3 portions of oily fish per week).  If the male parameters are unusually low I would recommend further one to one support to help you investigate what’s happening.  

Further down I have included supplements to support egg quality for PCOS, endometriosis or women over 35 years of age and of course a healthy diet is vital, as supplements cannot make up for a poor diet. 

Fertility Multi - Ovum

This product was formulated on the recommendations in Rebecca Fett’s book “It Starts with the Egg.”  It would need to be changed to a pregnancy multi once you get a positive result and I have linked one below.  Taking a prenatal or multivitamin has been shown to increase rates of successful pregnancy and live birth compared to taking folic acid alone (60.0% versus 25.0%) – PMID: 22138521 

This supplement is quite high in alpha lipoic acid, which is not recommended for anyone with thyroid issues.  If you have a thyroid condition, avoid this supplement and you can go straight to the one below.  

Biocare - Methyl Pregnancy Multi

When choosing a prenatal, it’s important to choose a folate (real food version) or methyl-folate (activated form of folate).  The reason for this is that 10-15% of caucasians have a genetic mutation where they cannot convert synthetic folic acid into it’s active form.  These people should avoid folic acid as it blocks their folate pathways from working efficiently and can increase their risk of neural tube defects.  Both of the multis I have recommended have methyl-folate.  Ovum is more suitable for preparing for pregnancy and egg quality, Biocare can be used for both preparation and pregnancy.  You only need to take one (not both of these supplements).  Ovum is more expensive because it does have 200mg of CoQ10 but as stated above choose Biocare if you have any issues with your thyroid. 

Male Fertility Support

It can be difficult to get the boys to take multiple different supplements and this one literally has everything in one supplement for sperm health including CoQ10 100mg and L-Carnitine 500mg.  The only other thing I would recommend they take with this is omega 3 if they are not eating oily fish (salmon, trout, mackeral, sardines) at least twice weekly.  

Fish Oil

Fish contains a component called DHA, which is absolutely vital for baby eye and brain development.  If DHA is not available from mom’s diet then baby will take it for her brain.  OMEGA 3 is also important for fertility as it forms an integral part of our cell membranes, which is where hormone signalling takes place and it can improve egg and sperm quality in preparation for pregnancy.  Aim for 2-3 portions of oily fish weekly and if you are not reaching this target then it’s important to supplement.  

Female Probiotic

This probiotic contains strains of bacteria that have been proven, that when taken by mouth will colonise the vagina.  The lactobacillus family is especially effective at protecting against infections in that region, that can increase risk of infertility and miscarriage for example BV and StrepB.  

I would also recommend including fermented foods in your fertility diet for like; kombucha, kefir, live yoghurt and sauerkraut to not only support over all gut health, but also to support the immune system and help reduce inflammation.  Kombucha is a lovely refreshing alternative to wine if you are trying to reduce alcohol.

Vitamin D Test

I have included a vitamin D spray below and it really is the minimum dose you should be taking, some people will need to take 3 times this amount.  I am a firm believer in test don’t guess when it comes to vitamin D.  This is because some people have a genetic tendency to be slow metabolisers of vitamin D from the sun and if you need to mega dose vitamin D to achieve optimal levels, you need to do this before you get pregnant.  Vitamin D is so, so important for fertility health and also for pregnancy for reducing preterm birth risk.  A lot of GPs have stopped testing for vitamin D so for this reason I am linking an at home vitamin D test below.  It’s more important to get your levels tested during the winter than the summer for obvious reasons but I do recommend 10-15 minutes of bare-skinned sun exposure before you put any sun factor on to optimise your vitamin D production.  September is a good month to test as it will tell you what your supplies are like after the summer.  These supplies have to last you until the following April so ideally they should be well over 100nmol/L!  If you have a tendency to get blue or very tired during the darker evenings you might have the gene where you don’t make enough vitamin D and I would definitely recommend testing.   I am happy to give a dosage recommendation once your results come back. 

Egg Quality

Choosing a good quality prenatal is the first step in ensuring egg quality.  For males and females over the age of 35 egg quality begins to reduce so it’s very important to ensure diet is very ‘clean’ and that you reduce your toxin exposure and endocrine disruptors as much as possible.  The supplements below have been proven to improve both egg and sperm quality. 

Ubiquinol - CoQ10

CoQ10 has been shown in studies to increase egg health and pregnancy outcomes.   Ubiquinol is the nost bioavailable form of CoQ10 and it’s little more expensive but it means you can use less.  I recommend 2 capsules daily for supporting egg quality.  If you or your partner are taking Ovum or Cytoplan Male Fertility these already contain Co Q10. 

NAC & Glycine

Research shows that supplementing with N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) and glycine can boost glutathione levels,  a powerful antioxidant, which may have significant benefits for fertility.  For women, higher glutathione levels are linked to better egg quality and ovarian function. This can be particularly beneficial for women who are trying to conceive later in life, as glutathione levels naturally decline with age.  For men, NAC has been shown to improve sperm count, motility, and morphology.  NAC is particularly helpful for older women or for those with endometriosis where NAC showed a positive impact on patient fertility and symptoms of pain.  This supplement works more efficiently in a split dose: half a scoop morning and evening.

Myo Inositol

Myo inositol is a member of the B vitamin family and is especially beneficial for women who have PCOS with high testosterone.  It can help support ovulation and improve quality of eggs by lowering blood sugar and high male hormones that can block ovulation. High blood sugar is damaging to the eggs, it creates a lot of oxidative stress.   Because of its action on testosterone it can also help other high testosterone symptoms including unwanted hair growth and male pattern baldness in females.  Start with 1 scoop with breakfast and after one week if you are feeling good you can increase to 1 scoop morning and evening.  

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