Tag: Fertility

Can darkness protect female fertility?

Last modified: Dicembre 4, 2021

Can darkness protect female fertility? New research says yes! Women who wish to achieve pregnancy are now advised to avoid late nights and artificial light as it can harm their fertility and, as a consequence, decrease chances of conception.

darknessEvery time we turn on the light at night, the production of melatonin is reduced. Melatonin is a hormone secreted in the brain, in response to darkness, that helps regulate other hormones in the body and is commonly known for its sleep effects. However, fertility experts from the University of Texas report another quite important role of the hormone in female fertility.

A review of studies, published in ‘’Fertility and Sterility’’, that summarized previous research results on the role of melatonin and circadian cycle on achieving pregnancy in women, provided evidence that melatonin protects the ovary, eggs and placenta from the disastrous effects of free radicals as it exhibits unique oxygen scavenging abilities. That means that melatonin prevents the production of ROS (reactive oxygen species) saving the reproductive system from oxidative damage.

Russel J. Reiter, professor of cellular biology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and lead researcher of the study, reported that ‘’darkness is important for female fertility as well as for protecting the developing embryo’’.

He also recommended women trying to get pregnant to spend at least 8 hours in the darkness during the night. Ideally, all lights should be off, however if there must be a light on, red or yellow are preferable. White and blue light should be avoided as these colours could disturb the biological clock.

So, can darkness protect female fertility? The main conclusion of the study review was that the circadian cycle and melatonin, both linked to darkness, are crucial for optimal function of the reproductive system. Additionally, the circadian cycle should remain stable smooth and undisturbed from one day to the other otherwise it is more likely for a women’s biological clock to go out of tune. Professor Reiter would advise the same for pregnant women in order to support fetus development.

Would you choose darkness over light for protecting your fertility?

DHEA for Increased IVF Success Rates?

Last modified: Dicembre 4, 2021

DHEA hormone administration can significantly increase IVF success rates for women treated for infertility according to a study.

This study showed that women who used DHEA hormone supplements during their treatment increased their chances of pregnancy compared to women who did not receive the supplement.

DHEA

DHEA is a natural hormone supplement received by many women reaching menopause for slowing down age changes

There are many studies showed the value of DHEA supplementation to subfertile women and there are in agreement with the above findings. Some of them indicate a beneficial effect of DHEA on maintaining pregnancy as well, decreasing miscarriage incidents.

What is DHEA?

DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) is a natural hormone supplement received by many women reaching menopause for slowing down age changes, fighting anility, or as a part of infertility treatment. It is converted to testosterone and estradiol in the body and it can benefit women with poor egg reserve or low response to IVF medication.

But how safe is for women to receive DHEA supplements? Despite the fact its side effects are relatively mild it is always advisable to check with your physician before you receive any supplement. Due to its androgenic activity DHEA can cause acne, hair loss, facial hair growth, voice deepening and menstruation changes. A low dose of the hormone can keep the risk of side effects low. However women suffering from certain medical conditions like endometriosis and several cancer types (ovarian, uterine and breast cancer) have increased risk for serious DHEA side effects.

Dosage of DHEA

The doctors in the study used a 25 mg DHEA tablet 3 times a day for twelve weeks prior initiation of the IVF treatment cycle for increasing the success rates.

Its use for enhancing fertility is not always an option as there is not enough data clearly documenting its effects on this condition and in some countries like the UK is not permitted. In the US on the other hand, DHEA supplementation is fully licensed in fertility issues.

 Would you consider DHEA supplementation for boosting fertility?

Male Fertility Declines with Age

Last modified: Gennaio 16, 2018

It now appears that women are not the only one who have to worry about their biological clock since male fertility declines with age as well, research reveals. Although, there are differences between male and female fertility, experts now advise male population wishing to have biological children, to avoid losing time. ’’Men too cannot afford waiting forever’’ says Dr. Paula Fettback of the Huntingdon Reproductive Medicine Centre in Brazil.

Male Fertility Declines with Age

At the age of 45 chances of a man to father a child drop to 35%.

Dr. Fettback lead a study focused on the outcome of 570 IVF treatments carried out at her clinic. More specifically, fertility outcome was analyzed for 570 men under fertility treatment from March 2008 to April 2011. In order to eliminate female infertility factors, researchers only studied cases of IVF treatment where eggs from young and healthy women were used through egg donation.  They came to result that in couples who had difficulty in conceiving male age was greater than in couples who achieved pregnancy. Actually, for couples where the man was 41 years old chances of conception were about 60%.

‘’Our investigation showed that for each extra year of paternal age pregnancy chances exhibit a decrease of 7%’’, highlighted Dr. Fettback. Furthermore, at the age of 45 chances of a man to father a child drop to 35% and these chances are dropping even faster in older ages, indicating that male fertility declines with age.

The effects of female age on human reproduction are more or less known. As for men, even though there is data suggesting that male fertility declines with age, the effects of male age factor are not fully elaborated, explains Dr. Fettback.

According to experts, attention should be paid to the fact that a growing number of men globally are following the trend of older parenthood. In Germany, for example, the average age of married fathers has increased from 31.3 to 33.1 in about 8 years. In England, fathers aged 35-54 accounted for 25% of overall child births. 10 years later this percentage reached about 40%.

Since more and more men are now choosing to become fathers in advanced age, a better understanding of male age factor as well as men’s sperm quality renders quite critical for public health.

What do you think? What is the ideal age for fathering a child?

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Parasitic worms increase female fertility?

Last modified: Maggio 31, 2016

Can parasitic worms increase female fertility?  Accordingly to what parasitic worm is a woman’s digestive system infected with, she can conceive a child more or less easily. That is the unexpected conclusion of a quite unusual research study who studied a Bolivian tribe of the Amazon called Tsimane.

Bolivian Tsimane

The Tsimane women have been ranked among the most fertile women in the world.

The idea of conducting this piece of research came from a team member who had begun trying to conceive while working in Bolivia. The fact she conceived rather quickly got her wondering whether there was an environmental factor that made her more fertile and as it turned out…it was a worm!

The biologist who led the study, Aaron Blackwell of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his team had been gathering data from about a thousand Tsimane women for nine years. The study results were published in ‘’Science’’.

The Tsimane women have been ranked among the most fertile women in the world, having 10 children each on average,  but it appears that some of them are even more fertile compared to others of their tribe.

Study researchers presented evidence that women infected with a specific kind of parasitic worm, a type of hookworm, tend to conceive their first child later in life, have long gaps between their children and have less children in overall. On the contrary, women infected with another type of helminth have birth of their first baby earlier and tend to have more children.

Scientist concluded that the one type of helminth increases female fertility while the other hinders it. The cause of this fertility effect is unknown; however, Blackwell’s theory is that this fertility effect’’ could be related to the balance immune responses that the different parasites induce’’.

70% of the  (roughly 16.000 people) has been infected by parasitic worms without taking notice. Women infected with the roundworm (which could grow up to 36 cm) have 3 children more than those not infected. On the other hand, women with the hookworm have 3 children less.

It is estimated that approximately 800 million people have been infected by either hookworm or roundworm globally. Consequently, it is possible that such parasitic infections may play a role to global demography if they indeed have such a major effect on female fertility.

Did this study make you reconsider your opinion about worms? 

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Women’s faces turn red during ovulation

Last modified: Maggio 16, 2016

Women’s faces turn red during ovulation, study says. It appears that women’s face is redder in the middle of their cycle, during their fertile window.

Women’s faces turn red during ovulation

Women appear more attractive to men when they ovulate

The study, published in ‘’PLoS ONE’’, is considered one of the most efficient in investigating the female face during a menstrual cycle. 22 college girls participated in the study conducted by researchers of Cambridge University in the UK. They photographed the faces of the girls without make-up, every evening, at the same time, when they all gathered for dinner, at the college hall, for a month. For photographing the faces, they used a special instrument, similar to a normal camera but advanced in terms of color capturing.

For analyzing the images captured by the camera, experts designed specialized computer software that picks up an identical patch of cheek from each image. The girls of the study were also tested for hormone changes at specific times, critical for the ovulation cycle, as decided by the research team.

The face color analysis revealed that the skin’s redness exhibited changes during the month. In fact, the biggest change in terms of red skin color was observed during ovulation and retained its intensity over the last days of the cycle, where estrogen levels started to decrease.

The researchers from the University of Cambridge consider that redness changes of the skin were indicative of body temperature fluctuations. However, the face color changes, even at their pick, were not detectable to the human eye. More specifically, the average difference in redness was 0.6 units while the threshold of human visual perception was 2.2 units.

This observation was in contrast to the scientists’ initial expectations, as in other primates it is quite common for females to display specific sighs of ovulation and fertility that are easily detectable to males, attracting them to mate.

In women however, even if their face turns red during ovulation, that is not the case. Previous research has shown that women appear more attractive to men when they ovulate, however facial redness is not what men notice. ‘’Women do not advertise ovulation but they do leak information about it and facial redness could be a small piece of a larger puzzle’’, commented Dr Hannah Rowland from the Zoology Department who led the study.

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More Sex May Boost Fertility

Last modified: Ottobre 19, 2015

Sex at any time induces immunity changes that may boost fertility, enhancing chances of conception. That is what an American study, currently published to ‘’Fertility and Sterility’’ and ‘’Physiology and Behavior’’, reported.

Sex May Boost Fertility

American scientists proved that sexual activity can affect Fertility

Researchers from the University of Indiana, collected data from thirty women in order to investigate how the immune system of women who were sexually active is regulated compared to those who were not. The study was led by Dr. Lorenz, a researcher at the Kinsey Institute of Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. They found clear differences regarding the immune system regulation between the two study groups.

‘’It is already known that frequent sexual intercourse is recommended to couples who want to achieve pregnancy, even if it’s outside of a woman’s ovulation cycle. However, for the first time we can actually scientifically document that intercourse promotes immunity types in the body that can boost fertility and support conception. In fact, even for non-fertile days the body, during sex, prepares itself in advance for a potential pregnancy’’, Dr. Lorenz explained.

In the paper published in ‘’Fertility and Sterility’’ the scientific team used saliva samples from thirty healthy premenopausal women at the four phases of the women’s cycle (menstrual, follicular, ovulatory, and luteal). Half of them were sexually active while the other half was abstaining from sex.

They discovered that women who were sexually active exhibited greater changes to helper T cells and proteins related to the body’s ability to get ready for possible pregnancy changes. Moreover, the same group was found to have higher levels of helper T cells in overall, which are believed to assist the body to adjust to pregnancy during the luteal phase of the cycle.

This study was repeated under the same conditions, using data from other 32 premenopausal women. The outcome confirmed the results from the first study, as published in ‘’Physiology and Behavior’’.

It has been previously shown that immunity changes occur during pregnancy, after labor and during menstrual cycle. But now for the first time the American scientists proved that sexual activity can actually affect the function of the immune system. In other words more sex may boost fertility!!!

 What do think? Is this a good reason for having more sex?

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Human sperm in vitro created by scientists

Last modified: Ottobre 3, 2015

Human sperm cells have been successfully created in the laboratory for the first time by using an artificial bioreactor. This is a breakthrough in infertility treatment sought for more than a decade since no one had been able to complete the complicated process of sperm maturation in vitro.

human sperm by scientists

Human sperm cells have been successfully created in the laboratory

Researchers based at a French national research institute in Lyon had announced this discovery previously, but they and government lab CNRS explained the process for the first time on Sept. 17 after taking out a patent on it.

Scientists have managed to complete spermatogenesis in vitro, a process taking place in the male testes in vivo, which leads the immature germ cells to become mature spermatozoa fully competent to fertilize. They succeeded this by developing a bioreactor using a viscous fluid, made partly of substances found in the walls of mushrooms, to mimic the in vivo conditions.

Scientists claim that this achievement promises to succeed in helping young men with cancer that caused them fertility issues later in their lives and adult men who cannot make their own sperm. About 15,000 men are made sterile due to cancer treatments and other 120,000 suffer from untreatable infertility. They explained that their fertility could be preserved by developing mature human sperm from their immature cells, then freezing it. The team hopes to be able to treat patients as soon as 4 years.

Even though trials have been reportedly successful on rat, monkey and human sperm cells, the lack of further details on the process has other scientists feeling skeptical. They look forward to the publication of the study so that to be able to discuss details of the research with the team and reveal the full mechanism through which such a process was accomplished in vitro.

Is this novel data or what?

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