Toxic Become Lethal

Environmental Toxins Impact on Women’s Fertility That Will Make You Think Twice

If you are trying a new exercise strategy, perhaps a healthy diet plan to lose weight to rejuvenate your body, mind, fertility and youth you know what it takes to be a woman. Your life is one of the finest example of “Multitasking”- managing family, work and other social circuits, with an optimal work-life balance.

Calling the current era woman a “Superwoman” wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

The spirits and vigor of women can match a marvel character, but their mortal physique and body responds in the worst way possible to the current environment conditions, stress, unbalanced lifestyle, and varied other factors.

The aftereffects lead to hormonal imbalances in terms of reproductive ailments as:

  • Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome,
  • Endometriosis,
  • Endocrine disorders,
  • Metabolic diseases,
  • Obesity,
  • Diabetes etc, and so the quest for rejuvenation, fertility, body regeneration & staying fit and healthy begins.

Have You Heard? Environmental Toxins affecting Women’s Fertility

How infertility is increasing in this era?

“Infertility” in the past few decades has highlighted itself as a global issue of concern.

In the wake of massive urbanisation, industrialisation and technology advancements anthropogenic (human) activities have polluted the atmosphere we breathe in, water bodies we drink from, and soil we grow our crops in, with chemicals (referred to as EDCs, Endocrine disrupting chemicals) as phthalates, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), brominated flame retardants (BFRs), dioxins, alkylphenols (APs) and perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) that are posing life threatening challenges as infertility in men and women, early puberty, obesity, diabetes and cancer1.

The predominant source of such toxicants are pesticides, herbicides, biocides used in farms, industry based heat stabilisers and chemical catalysts, chemicals used in plastic synthesis and stabilisation, byproducts and wastes of pharmaceutical industries2, etc.

But, you may wonder…

How is it affecting women’s fertility?

Is it affecting man too?

Yes, it does!

In the past couple of decades, studies on human fertility revealed an alarming reduction in rate of conception in couples worldwide.

Reports suggest that one in every eight women and one in every ten men suffer from infertility in UK alone, and optimum homeostasis, health and weight levels play a big role.

Given the impact of nutrition & physical activity in curbing the factors of infertility, dietitian London or the sports nutritionist London based are surfacing as promising hopes for infertility sufferers.

As per the data reports of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)3, in the U.K., ovulatory disorders or tubal damage in women account for 45% of infertility, declining semen quality and reproductive/ endocrine adversities in men account for another 30%, and 10% issues arise from uterine or peritoneal disorders.

But at the same time, contradictory reports keep surfacing every now and then stating that women till the age window of 40 do not suffer from any such major complicated issues that could affect their fertility status and that healthy pregnancy is possible and absolutely feasible.

The very question is whom to believe? Is women’s fertility really under threat or is it just a rumor, and to be paid no heed? The answer lies with you. Your fertility stats is subject to your “Genetics, Environment you live and breathe in, & Lifestyle you’ve opted”.

Can We Save Women from Infertility by Knowing Environmental Toxins Impact ?

Genetics 

Is an inheritable trait, loss of normal chromosome number or mutation in genes result in heritable disorders transferred from parents to children.

Women suffering from a familial history of uterine fibroid or tumors are at a higher risk of receiving those traits from their parents.

But, the point to be noted here is that where your genetics worsens the situation if you have unbalanced sedentary lifestyle, and vice versa is also true.

An active lifestyle, balanced dietary habits and healthy environment can retard the susceptibility of a genetically predisposed person towards development of life threatening diseases”.

Environmental toxins

Exponential and rapid increase in the monumental load of harmful chemicals and toxins that have entered the prevailing water bodies, soil and air have brought these toxicants into direct contact with our body through air we breathe in, water we drink, and food we eat, grown in soil laden with harmful pesticides and synthetic chemicals.

Such toxicants as:

  • Plasticisers (e.g., phthalates and phenols),
  • Flame retardants,
  • Perfluorinated compounds, and
  • Pesticides

Being fat soluble accumulate in the fat reserves of our body over a period of time and interfere with the normal functioning of the body, causing:

  • Fibroid,
  • Cancerous tumors,
  • Poly-cystic ovary syndrome,
  • Endometriosis,
  • Hormonal imbalance & dysfunction.

The effect of such toxicants is also severe and irreversible in pregnant women and their unborn child causing low birth weight, gestational diabetes, neurological condition and retarded development as autism4.

How are these chemicals entering our body?

How threateningly close we are to such toxicants can be judged from traces of these chemicals that contaminate our:

  • Food,
  • Water and air via leaching through plastic items (containers, bottles),
  • Pest control agents,
  • Paints on our furniture,
  • Food wraps,
  • Nonstick cookware,
  • Cans,
  • Carpets,
  • Shower curtains,
  • Electronics.

They also come from:

  • Cosmetics,
  • Air fresheners in cars and homes,
  • Medical tubing,
  • Vinyl flooring and wall coverings,
  • Perfumes,
  • Colognes,
  • Nail paints,
  • Foam products,
  • Baby toys,
  • Formaldehyde glue in furniture

AND…

  • Old lead water pipes,
  • Batteries,
  • Old model dryers,
  • Washing machine,
  • Coolants and lubricants in air conditioners.

Preventive approaches would be to choose organic, use alternate pest control methods in houses, avoid low grade plastics (labelled as 3, 6 & 7), using unscented detergents, glass containers or safe plastic containers, limiting the duration of exposure to electronic gadgets, awareness about probable metallic contamination (lead & mercury) in food and water supplies”.

Lifestyle factors

1. Dietary Intake

Data from research support the idiom that there is no one diet plan that can be billed as “One for all fertility pill”.

Reports suggest increased risk of ovulatory dysfunction associated with many dietary factors including protein intake, dietary fats, carbohydrates, alcohol, caffeine, and dairy products5.

Higher intake of animal protein6, higher dietary glycemic index and lower intake of vitamins have been found to be directly associated with ovulatory infertility in women7.

Diets rich in nutrients like antioxidant carnitine8, Coenzyme Q109, N-acetylcysteine, Proanthocyanidins, Vitamin E10, Omega- 3-fatty acids11 are known to improve oocyte quality with advancing maternal age and enhance chances of early conception boosting fertility in women.

Dietary intake assessment in cases of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) ensure reproductive success.

A recent report from Great Britain has investigated the risk of ovarian and corpus uteri cancer in ART patients, and it can be imagined what crucial roles like dietitian London & Sports nutritionist London would have played in this study12emphasising the need of a special detox diet in London ART patients towards treatment of infertility.

“So, eat a diet rich in plant based protein, whole grains, fruit and vegetables including varied types of essential fatty acids from nuts & seeds, spinach, beans, berries, citrus fruits and avoid intake of trans fatty acids, animal products and products of high glycemic index (high in sugar – usually these are processed foods), alcohol & caffeine. Supplementing the diet with organic multivitamin products containing folic acid and iron is also advised13 to thrust women’s fertility. Remember- an efficient diet plan for weight loss sheds off the extra pounds and helps attain the rejuvenation optima”

2. Obesity

High or irregular Body Mass Index (BMI) above 30 kg/m2 as a result of hypercaloric nutrition usually reflected in metabolic derangement and increased body weight is one of the major cause of obesity in females and one way to successfully tackle this is to use a customised weight loss diet plan for women.

Obesity affects a woman’s fertility by interfering with ovarian follicles development, oocyte maturation, altered fertilisation and abnormal embryo preimplantation14.

Excess fatty acids also induce permanent oocyte damage in obese women15.

A healthy diet plan to lose weight or supervised weight loss programmes have been shown to confer protective effects in fertility in obese women16.

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Contact now Jazz Alessi through this link, HERE.

3. Psychological stress for social life & work

Anxiety, depression and psychological distress are also known to alter the physiologic maturation of oocyte in women compromising the fertility17.

4. Drugs, caffeine & alcohol

And several non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, used as pain killers or in treatment of inflammation are ovulation inhibitors and cause ovarian failure in women18.

Similarly, higher intake of caffeine has been associated with an increased risk of pregnancy loss whereas in alcohol abusers the liver and/or psyconeurologic damages retard the process of successful oocyte maturation causing infertility.

5. Smoking

Reports have suggested rapid depletion of ovarian follicles, conception delay, and increased risk of spontaneous miscarriage in both natural and assisted conception cycles as well as increased risk of birth defects in women smokers19.

Do you have any questions about optimum health, fertility, weight loss or fitness?

Contact now Jazz Alessi through this link, HERE.

6. Physical activity

By now, it is quite clear that normal average weight and avoidance of detrimental lifestyle factors reduce the risk of infertility improving one’s chance of conception.

Exercise is the key component for optimum weight management, cardiovascular health and respiratory system, flexibility, increased range of movement, strength & therefore indirectly a regulator of well-being for bodily systems.

Moderate regular exercise improve fertility by increasing the chance of conception and decreasing the risk of miscarriage.

Exercise has been reported as the first-line therapy for women with reproductive ailments as PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) reducing insulin resistance, improving metabolism and reproductive functions in women20, 21.

“The time has come that the present day women understand the gravity of the situation and the vicious impact that the toxicant laden environment and casual, irresponsible & disastrous lifestyle approaches can mitigate on their health. Women are the torchbearers of “All the propagating Life”, so the responsibility gets doubled up, as in your hands lie not only the healthy future of yours but also the next generation. So, opt for healthy diet plan to lose weight that has piled up, make yourself committed to moderate exercise regimen, stay cautious, accountable to your environment, safe and blessed”.

References

1. Annamalai J1, Namasivayam V. Endocrine disrupting chemicals in the atmosphere: Their effects on humans and wildlife. Environ Int. 2015;76:78-97

2. Frye CA, Bo E, Calamandrei G, Calzà L, Dessì-Fulgheri F, Fernández M, Fusani L, Kah O, Kajta M, Le Page Y, Patisaul HB, Venerosi A, Wojtowicz AK, Panzica GC. Endocrine disrupters: a review of some sources, effects, and mechanisms of actions on behaviour and neuroendocrine systems. J Neuroendocrinol. 2012;24(1):144-59

3. Kathryn Doyle. One in eight women experience infertility. Health News. 2016.

4. Marya G. Zlatnik. Endocrine‐Disrupting Chemicals and Reproductive Health. Journal of midwifery and womens health. 2016

5. Chavarro JE, et al. Diet and lifestyle in the prevention of ovulatory disorder infertility. Obstet Gynecol. 2007;110(5):1050–1058.

6. Chavarro JE, et al. Protein intake and ovulatory infertility. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2008;198(2):210.e1–217.e1.

7. Chavarro JE, et al. A prospective study of dietary carbohydrate quantity and quality in relation to risk of ovulatory infertility. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009;63(1):78–86.

8. Vicari E, La Vignera S, Calogero AE. Antioxidant treatment with carnitines is effective in infertile patients with prostatovesiculoepididymitis and elevated seminal leukocyte concentrations after treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory compounds. Fertil Steril. 2002;78(6):1203–1208.

9. Bentov Y, et al. The use of mitochondrial nutrients to improve the outcome of infertility treatment in older patients. Fertil Steril. 2010;93(1):272–275.

10. Gohil K, et al. Vitamin E deficiency and vitamin C supplements: exercise and mitochondrial oxidation. J Appl Physiol. 1986;60(6):1986–1991.

11. Nehra D, et al. Prolonging the female reproductive lifespan and improving egg quality with dietary omega-3 fatty acids. Aging Cell. 2012;11(6):1046–1054.

12. Williams CL, Jones ME, Swerdlow AJ, Botting BJ, Davies MC, Jacobs I, Bunch KJ, Murphy MFG, Sutcliffe AG. Risks of ovarian, breast, and corpus uteri cancer in women treated with assisted reproductive technology in Great Britain, 1991-2010: data linkage study including 2.2 million person years of observation. BMJ, 2018.

13. Sińska B, Kucharska A, Dmoch-Gajzlerska E. The diet in improving fertility in women. Pol Merkur Lekarski. 2014 Jun;36(216):400-2.

14. Jungheim ES, Travieso JL, Hopeman MM. Weighing the impact of obesity on female reproductive function and fertility. Nutr Rev. 2013;71:3–8.

15. Broughton DE, Jungheim ES. A focused look at obesity and the preimplantation trophoblast. Semin Reprod Med. 2016;34:5–10.

16. Clark AM, Thornley B, Tomlinson L, Galletley C, Norman RJ. Weight loss in obese infertile women results in improvement in reproductive outcome for all forms of fertility treatment. Hum Reprod. 1998;13:1502–1505

17. Klonoff-Cohen H, Natarajan L. The concerns during assisted reproductive technologies (CART) scale and pregnancy outcomes. Fertil Steril. 2004;81(4):982–988.

18. Curtis KM, Savitz DA, Arbuckle TE. Effect of cigarette smoking, caffeine consumption, and alcohol intake on fecundability. Am J Epidemiol. 1997;146:32–41.

19. Dorfman SF. Tobacco and fertility: our responsabilities. Fertil Steril. 2008;89(3):502–504.

20. Conte F, Banting L, Teede HJ, Stepto NK. Mental health and physical activity in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a brief review. Sports Med. 2015;45(4):497–504.

Mahoney D. Lifestyle modification intervention among infertile overweight and obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. 2014;26(6):301–308.

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