Reduced egg quality is the key factor in fertility for women with Endometriosis and/or who are over 35 years old. What is egg quality, and why is it so important? And of course, what can you do to improve it?

We are born with all the eggs we’ll ever have. When we were a foetus in our mother’s womb, we already had all the eggs we’d ever have, around 6 million in fact. But when we were born there were around 1 million left and by the time you hit puberty there are around 300 remaining. Then each cycle, around 300 to 400 eggs start a maturing process with usually only one egg remaining for ovulation.

The interesting thing about the maturing process is that it doesn’t start after your last period. That little group of eggs starts the maturing process 4 months earlier! It really is a survival of the fittest kind of story, with only 1 egg making it to just before ovulation.

At this point the egg undergoes it’s most difficult process, called meiosis. It needs to duplicate itself 3 times with 1 of the duplications not making it each time.

The tricky part of the meiosis process is that the DNA in the egg needs to be duplicated as well. If anything goes here, the egg will not be viable for fertilisation or embryo development.

What the egg needs most for the 4 month maturing process and especially the meiosis process is energy, and lots of it. Fortunately, the egg has its own ‘powerplants’, the mitochondria. Mitochondria take fuel and turn it into a specific form of energy called ATP.

So an egg that is of high quality is one that can produce a lot of the ATP as and when it needs it.

A few factors affect energy production.

Age

Age does not cause chromosomal abnormalities, but as we age, mitochondria become damaged and the number of mitochondria in the egg decline. As a result, age predisposes the egg to not mature properly.

Endometriosis

The inflammation that is such a key factor in Endometriosis (to find out more, read my article Why you need to reduce inflammation to improve your fertility) affects your eggs as well because of oxidative stress which damages the mitochondria.

Plastics and chemicals

We are exposed to so many chemicals and toxins, it’s hard to avoid them. But some specific ones are important to consider because they have such an impact on the quality of your eggs. The first one is a plastic, BPA. BPA (in water bottles, food containers, even on paper receipts) interferes with the meiosis process and causes chromosomal abnormalities. Many countries have banned BPA, but even BPA-free products can still ‘leak’ when they come in touch with liquids and/or hot materials. A much safer alternative is glassware or metal containers/drink bottles.

Like BPA, another chemical called Phthalates, compromise egg (and sperm!) development. Phthalates are found in plastics, cleaning products, nail polish and fragrances and are considered reproductive toxins by the European Union, and endocrine (hormone) disruptors by the U.S. FDA.

How to improve the quality of your eggs?

There are a few key strategies for improving the quality of your eggs:

1. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet that has been specifically tailored to you, and your unique food intolerances.
2. Remove plastics and Phthalates from your world
3. Use supplements to improve your egg’s ability to produce energy.

You can start right now on strategy 2.

For the tailored anti-inflammatory diet and supplements, you will need help from an expert. If you’d like to discuss how you could improve your egg quality, you can book a free 30-minute Endometriosis SOS Call.