How loudly is your biological clock ticking?

I've been banging the preconception healthcare drum for nearly thirty years, so it never ceases to amaze me when somebody turns around and says “hey, I didn’t know it was going to be hard to get pregnant in my 30s - nobody ever talks about these things!” Hello, where have you been baby? The media is awash with articles, blogs and online forums are full of the TTC (trying to conceive), IVF specialists tout their wares, their ever-more-sophisticated techniques and their dubious successes at every opportunity.

Talk about blinkers on - but then I ask, who else is wearing blinkers? Whenever we’re bombarded with the plummeting fertility statistics and the drastic decline of fertility with age (and surprise, surprise men have a biological clock that ticks too!) where is the common sense? Am I the lone voice in the wilderness that says, hang on a minute, is age the only factor here? 

So do you want to know how you can preserve your fertility and ensure the healthiest baby possible? The answer’s simple - pay very close attention to your own health before conception. The reason for the rise in reproductive problems with age can be simply summarized as longer exposure to 21st century diets and lifestyles. Nutrition, lifestyle, environment and mental and emotional factors all need very careful attention by both partners if you plan to delay your baby-making (or if after attending to all the preconception issues, you consider that IVF is the only option). The four months immediately preceding conception are the most critical!

Comprehensive preconception health care has clearly been shown to give significant protection against age-related sub-fertility, miscarriage and foetal defect. The University of New England has conducted an independent study of 67 couples on the Natural Fertility Management conception program at The Jocelyn Centre. Developed by my co-author Francesca Naish, results of the program are more than merely encouraging. 52% of previously infertile couples can conceive within the first 4 months following completion of preconception care. Over the last 30 years, working with many thousands of couples, The Jocelyn Centre, despite a high proportion of patients being in their late 30s, early to mid 40s and beyond, has achieved successful pregnancies when all else has failed and an insignificant number of age-related defects.

The studies from Foresight - Association for Promotion of Preconceptual Care (UK) and the emerging research in the fields of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, (DOHaD), foetal origins and epigenetics also provide incontrovertible evidence...optimisation of nutritional status and complete avoidance of any potential toxicity by both partners for at least 4 months prior to conception is the only certain way to ensure the health of the next generation and to reduce the toll of compromised reproductive health (and that includes reducing the infertility rates across all age groups)!

Can those insect sprays!

For more than thirty years ago, Foresight has been warning about the dangers of exposing prospective parents and pregnant and breastfeeding women to the chemical cocktail that comes from the vast range of commonly available household and personal care products. Supermarket shelves are lined with the offenders and kitchen, bathroom and laundry cupboards are filled with them. They’ve become so much a part of modern life that educating consumers about simpler alternatives which are less potentially toxic to eggs, sperm, foetus and infants is an uphill battle. But Dr. Joan Spyker, an eminent toxicologist says it simply ... “Nearly every chemical to which the pregnant woman is exposed, will ultimately reach the foetus.” It’s a simple equation, the developing embryo and foetus lack   the mature detoxification mechanisms that deal with toxic chemicals. I’d add that every chemical to which the prospective parent is exposed has the potential to damage the germ cells.

Now, Paediatrics reports that commonly used insect sprays for home use, even the ones that purportedly are ‘safer’ can affect the development and learning abilities of young children. In utero or early infancy exposure through regular use of domestic insect sprays has been linked to delayed mental development at age of three. 

I simply ask ‘where have the researchers been all this time?’ and ‘where is the legislation that requires these products to be listed as dangerous until proven safe rather than the reverse!’