Freezing Your Eggs? 4 Ways to Boost Egg Quality and Why It's So Important
Egg freezing is amazing. Truly.
You can press the Pause button on your biological clock and preserve parts of your fertility for a more optimal time. This eases some of the pressure, gifting you with space and time to meet the right partner, advance your career, pursue necessary medical treatment, or figure out if motherhood is definitely for you – without sacrificing your best quality eggs.
There’s a normal age-related decline in both the quantity and quality of eggs in a woman’s ovaries as she ages. When freezing your eggs, while the number of eggs you produce is certainly key, the quality of your eggs is most important for eventually becoming pregnant and carrying a healthy baby to term.
Why is Egg Quality So Important?
High quality eggs grow into healthy, high quality embryos. The quality of the egg influences time to fertilization, miscarriage rate, the health of the embryo, health of the baby, and the health of the mother’s pregnancy.
The determining factor of egg quality is if the egg is free of chromosomal abnormalities. And, yes, the quality of your eggs can be changed. Egg quality is not static.
While the eggs that you’ll be freezing have been residing in your ovaries since birth, they undergo a dramatic transformation a few months prior to ovulation (or retrieval in this case). This transformation heavily influences the quality of the egg.
Eggs are encased in protective ovarian follicles until they’ve matured and are ready to be released during ovulation. Their maturation process occurs over many months before it’s released (or retrieved in egg freezing/IVF). A key part of this maturation involves the follicles undergoing cell division, which organizes the genetic material in the egg. If an error occurs in this process, chromosomal abnormalities will be present in the egg. Unfortunately, chromosomal abnormalities are the most influential factor in failed IVF cycles and first trimester miscarriages (1,2).
Ideally, you want a high number of genetically normal eggs in each egg freezing cycle so that you have the highest probability of pregnancy when you’re ready to pursue it.
Oocytes are extremely vulnerable cells and, thus, very sensitive to their environment as they mature in the months leading up to your procedure. Many factors – including inflammation, exposure to certain environmental toxins, high levels of stress, lack of sleep, and nutrient deficiencies to name a few – produce oxidative stress, which can damage the egg, impact proper cell division, and result in chromosomal abnormalities (3,4).
The health of the eggs that will be collected during your retrieval is directly correlated to the environment they were bathing in for the three to four months prior. Therefore, if there’s no medical urgency to have your eggs frozen immediately, it’s in your best interest to prep your body with some nourishing preconception care at least four months prior to starting the egg freezing process to increase your chances of having the best quality eggs. This is essential if you’re over the age of 35.
4 Ways to Boost Egg Quality
Research shows that certain dietary and lifestyle adjustments can improve egg quality (5,6). The following are some evidence-backed ways for you to naturally boost egg quality prior to retrieval:
Increase Antioxidant Intake
High levels of oxidative stress are damaging to the egg, embryo quality, and the chromosomal status of the oocyte. Ovarian follicles are naturally equipped with their own set of antioxidant enzymes and vitamins that protect the egg from oxidative stress in the body. However, when these antioxidant defenses are overwhelmed by high amounts of oxidative stress in the body (mostly a byproduct of our modern lifestyle and environment), this leaves the egg open to damage, reducing its quality.
One of the best ways to counter oxidative stress is to increase your antioxidant intake through diet. You can accomplish this by incorporating richly-pigmented, brightly colored vegetables and fruits into your repertoire. Their vibrant hues are a result of phytochemicals contained in these foods, which act as antioxidants.
Variety is key, so try to include all colors of the rainbow onto your plate throughout the week. (For example: eggplant, blueberries, yellow squash, leafy greens, avocado, red peppers, sweet potato, etc.).
The diverse fiber found in these plant foods also helps cultivate the beneficial bacteria in your microbiome, which is an added bonus.
Balance Blood Sugar
Unchecked blood sugar levels and insulin resistance cause a massive cascade of inflammatory mediators throughout the body. This inflammation, in addition to the oxidative stress it produces, is damaging to the genetics of the egg (7). With this damage, there could be chromosomal abnormalities, which you (and your fertility clinic) don’t want.
It’s a good idea to get some blood work to measure your metabolic markers to see how your body’s blood sugar handling is working (fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, and Hemoglobin A1C are a good place to start). Even in the absence of blood sugar issues, it’s a good rule of thumb to balance all your meals and snacks with quality fats and lean proteins. Your plate should be a healthy balance of lean protein, nourishing carbohydrates, and high quality fats. A heavier balance of carbohydrates in relation to protein and fats - and a high intake of refined sugar in general - will upset your blood sugar balance.
Love Your Mitochondria
Mitochondria drive the vitality of the egg and the resultant embryo. Mitochondria are the energy-producing factories of all cells. There are between 200 to 2,000 mitochondria per cell. There are over 100,000 mitochondria in oocytes, per cell. This shows you just how much energy is required to take that cell from oocyte to embryo and beyond (8).
Sperm cells only have 16 mitochondria, which sit in its tail to help it swim and reach the egg. During fertilization, when the sperm head goes into the egg, all of the male mitochondria are shed with its tail. The embryo that results from conception is 100% entirely dependent on the maternal mitochondria. Hence, maternal mitochondria care is critical for the embryo and the resultant baby. This is especially true for women over 35 or those with diminished ovarian reserve, where your mitochondria are less efficient.
One way to support your mitochondria is by supplementing with CoQ10. CoQ10 is a nutrient and antioxidant that is a raw substrate for the electron transport chain, which is how any energy gets produced within the mitochondria. With egg cells, it’s thought that CoQ10 provides what’s needed for the mitochondria to produce enough energy to fuel the development and maturation of a healthy egg.
A growing body of research is revealing that supplementation with CoQ10 in the months leading up to IVF (or egg freezing, in this case), significantly boosts egg quality (9). Lower rates of chromosomal abnormalities were also found in the eggs of women taking CoQ10 (10).
Ditch Plastic (and other chemicals)
Kudos to you if one of your healthy lifestyle changes on your egg-freezing journey is to drink more water, but please – avoid drinking it out of plastic water bottles! Plastics contain Bisphenol-A (BPA, familiarly), an endocrine disrupting chemical that has been shown to negatively impact egg quality.
Women with higher concentrations of Bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates during a stimulated cycle are less likely to have healthy, mature eggs, and have a lower number of eggs on collection (11).
You might be thinking, “I’ll just switch to a BPA-free plastic bottle.” Unfortunately, manufacturers are swapping BPA with its chemical kin, BPS and BPF, which can disturb fertility in similar ways (12,13). So, it’s best to avoid plastics all together.
Ways to reduce plastics and BPA exposure:
Switch from plastic Tupperware containers to glass or Pyrex containers to store your food, especially if hot. BPA leaches more easily into foods in the presence of heat and acidity.
Opt for a reusable glass or stainless steel water bottle.
Swap your plastic shower liner for a washable cloth one.
Decline receipts at the check-out counter when possible. The thermal paper’s smooth coating contains BPA, which can be absorbed through your skin after some time (14). If it’s necessary to grab one, just remember to always wash your hands when you get home.
These are just a few simple things to do that can have a significant impact on your egg quality. There are other evidence-based supplements and plenty more personalized measures you can take depending on your particular case.
If you’re confused about where to start or are looking for an individualized plan to ensure you’re doing all the right things during the egg freezing process, book a free discovery call here.