The Fertility Podcast
How does my Gut health affect my fertility?
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Episode notes
This week on the podcast we’re talking poo!
Well to be exact…….gut health and your fertility. Meet Dr Cecilia Kitic the founder of The IVF Project and Dr Sue Reed who is a Dietician and microbiologist. Both ladies join us from Australia.
How to eat for good fertility
Sue tells us how infertility can be associated with an unhealthy gut, particularly increased inflammation and a low diversity of bacteria in the gut. She recommends focusing on good whole foods and steering clear of refined and processed foods.
Whole grains are hugely important for a healthy fertility diet. They contain all our essential nutrients, antioxidants and pre-biotic fibre. Examples are wholegrain breads, brown rice and even popcorn! Sue recommends 48gs of whole grains per day. For PCOS focus on the low glycaemic index carbs.
Cecilia says that it doesn’t have to be expensive to ensure you’re getting the right good quality foods. Both Cecilia and Sue help their clients in buying the right food to optimise their fertility.
Sue says even eating frozen veg and fruit is a great way to get all your nutrients in. These foods are frozen very quickly after being picked and therefore contain an abundance of our essential nutrients. Meal planner or batch cooking are another way of keeping costs down.
What about dairy?
Sue encourages her clients to eat dairy as it is chock full of all the vitamins, minerals and the all-important calcium, that you would miss out on if you excluded this in your diet.
How can you find out about your gut health?
It’s easy to get your gut tested by doing a simple poo test. Our faeces are actually really complex but by testing you can easily see what’s in there but equally what’s not.
Sperm health and the gut
Cecilia explains that if your gut is healthy and you have a good bacterial diversity then testosterone is at an optimum level. However, a poor diet can reduce this diversity and be damaging to sperm health.
To supplement or not to supplement?
Sue feels that many women go overboard on supplements and that vitamins and minerals from our food is the best option. Clearly all women should take folic acid and vitamin D, and also Omega 3 if they don’t generally get this from eating oily fish.
The benefits of exercise over-supplementation
Cecilia firmly believes that exercise should always be used to improve energy and vitality as opposed to supplements. Exercise is the best anti-inflammatory and this is especially important for women with PCOS and to help reduce DNA damage of the egg and sperm.
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Their next Fertile Gut Masterclass starts 17 August 2020