TRANSCRIPT:
“One thing I've noticed, whether it be in conversations that I have outside of this space or in media coverage, is that there's a lot more talk about fertility. So that's good. But there's no talk of the single biggest factor that drives fertility outcomes, and that's energy. In working with over 160 couples on fertility issues, of which about 40 were going through the IVF process, it's clear that the medical model is so obsessively focused on blood levels of hormones and trying to manipulate them through various injections.
And the key thing there is it entirely misses the mark. Not only because we want to look at what that hormone is doing at receptors, how is that interacting with the target tissue and all the rest of it, but because this misguided and reductionist approach is ultimately quite disrupt, disrespectful to the human body in that it does not acknowledge that we have only evolved in the way that we have because the system is capable of adapting its function relative to the resources it has at its disposal.
That's energy. There's very few things in this universe that are going to be as adaptable as the human body is to low energy, and that's the key thing here. The discussion never seems to recognise that the process of producing and carrying a baby, that's 40 weeks of some of the most energy intensive processes that any human body is ever going to experience.
And this is where we can see very clear signs that the body is designed to block pregnancy if it doesn't have the energy resources that's necessary for a successful outcome. And indeed, that's exactly what it does. Whether we look into the mechanisms or we look into the studies that track energy dysfunction to outcomes, it's all very, very clear.
And that's where I want to just emphasise the overarching importance of energy metabolism. To put it into perspective, your average cell has about 300 mitochondria. These are the powerhouses that take food energy, turn it into human energy ATP. Now, if cells high energy demands, we may well see higher concentrations going up as high as 2,000 mitochondria per cell in certain parts of the brain.
There's one exception, though, which is the ovum, the egg cell, which is of course the genesis of all pregnancies, and that has 50,000 mitochondria. Energy is a big deal.”
Some studies showing the connection between energy metabolism and fertility:
Reynier et al, 2001 – assessed the mitochondrial content of oocytes (egg cells) from healthy controls and women having difficulty conceiving. Found that these cells contain an astonishingly high number of mitochondria per cell (20,000 to 598,000) and found a clear association between the lower mitochondrial counts and fertility challenges.
Babayev & Seli, 2015 – conducted a review of animal and clinical studies on the role of mitochondria in fertility. Concluded that mitochondrial activity is central is all stages of conception and that optimal energy production is required for oocyte and embryo development. Also noted that providing mitochondria-targeted nutrition support can improve IVF outcomes.
Lei et al, 2024 - A review on the impact of insulin resistance in fertility. Concluded that insulin resistance increases oxidative stress, interfering with energy metabolism and oocyte development, hormone secretion and successful implantation.
Yoshioka et al, 2015 – a study that tracked 69 females that were a) struggling to conceive and b) had what was deemed ‘subclinical hypothyroidism’. Supplementing them with thyroid hormone supplementation resulted in 58/69 falling pregnant within the study period.
Thurber et al, 2019 - a study that identifies the limit of human endurance (output that trained athletes can maintain in competition) at about 2.5x their resting metabolic rate, noting that pregnant women operate at near this limit for many months (at around 2.2x their RMR).
Action points:
- take an Organic Acids Test to assess for mitochondrial status (this test is especially useful for assessing what is happening at the mitochondria)
- measure lipids, insulin and blood glucose (fasting) and HbA1c, which provides a clear overview of insulin sensitivity
- take a full thyroid panel (which includes TSH, T4, T3, reverse T3 and thyroid antibodies, rather than just TSH and T4)
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