Antioxidants for Fertility
First things first.
What even are antioxidants, and what do they do?
Think of antioxidants as the “good guys,” the molecules that fight free radicals in your body.
The logical next question is, “what are free radicals?” and that’s an easy one.
They’re compounds that can cause harm if they’re allowed to build to high levels in your body. They can damage eggs and sperm and we consider this part of your hormonal health or fertility picture.
In addition to Acupuncture, see more on how we approach Fertility & Hormonal Health
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The Big Picture
Now, if you’ve followed much of our information, you’ll know that in Traditional Chinese Medicine, we look at people “holistically,” or as a whole. So, we consider every part of your physical and mental health as part of a diagnosis and treatment. Essentially, we don’t have a “cookie-cutter” approach to people.
When someone is trying to conceive, it’s especially important that the whole body is on board for that journey. What could be more holistic and widespread than making sure our approach looks after your cells!
Speaking of cells, let’s start at the biggest of the lot: the ovum cells. The Egg cells are the biggest by far in the female body and they’re also pretty high priority on our list of cells to look after and take particularly good care of.
Then we have the sperm cells. They’re not as big, but they have a unique membrane and are particularly vulnerable to external factors disrupting their internal processes.
So with these two important cells in mind, along with the trillions of others, we thought we’d talk about ONE important way to keep them functioning efficiently and repairing any damage done.
Team 1: The Free Radicals
We already know that too many free radicals is a bad thing. But how do they get there? How are they made?
When the body’s cells are put under stress from environmental toxins (things like cigarettes, alcohol, fatty/oily food, radiation, excess sugar, pollution, some medications), Free Radicals are produced as a response. If we want to get a little deeper in the science, we’d tell you that Free Radicals are unstable cells, meaning that they have an unpaired electron. SOME free radicals are definitely necessary because they serve a purpose in the body with the environmental toxins.
But, when the amount of free radicals gets too high, we run the risk of something called oxidative stress. Oxidative stress can damage cell DNA (including sperm and eggs!), damage proteins and can even cause you to age faster.
Enter antioxidants.
Team 2: The Antioxidants
Antioxidants, as we said, are the good soldiers who help to fight the free radicals and keep the levels within safer ranges.
How? We’re so glad you asked! We mentioned that free radicals are dangerous because they’re unstable because of their unpaired electron. Antioxidants give up some of their own electrons to the free radicals, which neutralises them. Kind and self-sacrificing little things!
How to get more Antioxidants in your diet?
This is our favourite part. How do you maximise your antioxidant intake? There are quite a lot of foods that are high in antioxidants, most of them are super tasty, and some are even a little naughty! (everything in moderation, are we right?)
Vitamin C is a well-known antioxidant and as an added bonus can help improve fertility, especially men’s! Click our pretty picture below to find a summary of the top 20 highest vitamin C foods per 100 grams.
Next on our hit list we’ve got Vitamin E, vital to a functioning immune system and important in both men’s and women’s fertility. Click on our pretty picture below for a shopping list of foods high in Vitamin E.
Then we’ve got a couple of Chinese Medicine favourites to add into your shopping list. Goji berries and Cinnamon! You can add a few Goji berries to hot water and make yourself a sweet, healthy tea. Or just grab a handful and snack on them raw. Yum!
Add Cinnamon to your porridge or cereal, include it in baking or curries, or even enjoy a nice spicy chai blend tea. Cinnamon is great however it comes.
And now the Fun Part we’ve all been waiting for.
Small amounts of dark chocolate (over 75% dark), and the odd glass of red wine (pinot noir, preferably, has the highest concentration of antioxidants) may also be helpful in repairing oxidative stress. Yum!
Supplements can also come in handy if your diet needs a bit of a boost, especially if you’re having trouble conceiving. This is particularly important when trying to improve on the quality of your sperm or egg cells. We will make recommendations on what will suit you best based on your signs symptoms, Chinese Med diagnosis & blood test results.
Know where to start or what could be behind fertility issues can be trick.
We’re here to help.