Fertility Breakthrough: new research could stop premature ovarian aging

Your parents probably lectured you on the importance of contraception. The ever looming ‘threat’ of pregnancy drilled into you as if it were easy.

Ironically, women are told for years if they don’t have children before mid-30’s, they may not be able to. Statistics show a dramatic increase in rates of infertility, more than a decade before egg supply runs out. This means, we need to get to the biological causes of why our eggs and sperm are aging and develop new late life-interventions to slow the process down (12).

Passionate about helping couples have kids, I developed BUMP Fertility; to determine the biomarkers of what causes eggs and sperm to age prematurely and provide 100% natural strategies to stop, reverse and prevent accelerated reproductive decline.

After 20 years of researching, the results are better than what I hoped and every woman who ever wants to have a baby needs to know this information!

The 3 key steps to turn back time on reproductive aging are:

1. Remove the stimulating factors
2. Identify genetic causes
3. Inhibit biological changes
4. Remove stimulating factors

Accelerated biological aging of the reproductive system in both men and women is triggered by over 120 hidden factors that are modifiable (17-25) – BUT the current structure for managing fertility currently does not screen for these!

Having just one hidden factor can increase the time it will take to conceive by 7 years and 1 in 5 women have at least one hidden factor.

This is why I developed the BUMP Fertility self-assessment screen – an affordable, accessible way to put the stops on hidden factors accelerating biological reproductive aging.

2. Identify genetic causes

Getting assessed is the first step to take. Knowing how to fix these problems is next and DNA testing provides answers.

Perhaps you’ve already had some genetic fertility testing done through your fertility specialist for conditions like down syndrome for example. What you are unlikely to have been tested for is the interaction between your genes, your diet and how this affects your biological reproductive age.

Microbiome health influences reproductive health in both men and women (13,14,15,16). It is also implicated in foetal development and impaired diversity is linked to autism spectrum disorder (16).  For starters it influences over 30 genes involved in the uptake and metabolism of nutrients needed for the prevention of accelerated aging of both eggs and sperm (especially in conditions like PCOS, endometriosis, thyroid disorders) – this includes the metabolism of vitamins A, C, D and B12 as well as folate, glutathione and coenzyme Q10 (2,3,6).  

Other genes play a role in how rapidly your eggs and sperm age primarily due to their influence on conditions that influence fertility like inflammation, mitochondrial function, digestive problems, hormone related conditions and autoimmunity (1,2,4).

In addition, exciting new microbiome DNA testing identifies the influence of specific digestive flora on estrogen production, insulin regulation and thyroid health – all key triggers for accelerated reproductive aging. This means, depending on your microbiome balance, taking an over the counter probiotic or eating more fermented foods could potentially be making things worse.

It also means, whatever you do to improve your fertility, including dietary choices, taking vitamins or managing your health, can become more effective if you match it to your DNA.

DNA testing is an exciting NEW strategy for rapidly reversing the rate of reproductive decline. Tailoring your diet to your DNA can literally shed around 7 years off the time it takes to have a baby.

3. Inhibit cellular changes damaging your eggs and sperm

Finally, (this is new information that can make a big difference to conceiving) an amazing researcher at Princeton University - Coleen Murphy discovered cathepsin B proteases increases oocyte aging. In a nutshell, as the body biologically aged, these proteins increased, diminishing egg quality.

The super exciting part is, advances in genomic herbal therapeutics means you can inhibit, reverse and slow this process, potentially extending your fertility for an additional 3-7 years!

If you have been trying for a baby either naturally or with IVF, it’s time to take a new approach. My 3 new and exciting discoveries means you can not only slow the aging process but turn back time! It’s exciting. It’s new. Women struggling to conceive should know this!

Remember, the approach currently promoted to women of try and try again, is far too simplistic and collectively as women we need to stop thinking this way. Simply waiting for it to happen naturally, following a healthy lifestyle or taking over the counter herbs or vitamins is in some cases helpful, but only skimming the surface and in some cases potentially making things worse.

This approach to improving reproductive outcomes is an absolute game changer. It’s a 100% natural way to stop, reverse and restore the effects of accelerated reproductive aging and if you apply these steps you really can change your path to parenthood. It’s time to start believing it really is your time to be fertile!

Narelle Stegehuis MHSc HM.

Narelle Stegehuis is a leading natural fertility provider accredited by the International Institute for Restorative Reproductive Medicine and the Fertility Society of Australia. Helping women conceive for over 20 years, Narelle is passionate about natural accelerated reproductive age reversal and environmental reproductive health. Narelle provides specialised content for Torrens University and media publications such as New Idea, Woman's Day and Women's Fitness magazines. Narelle strives to create community awareness and affordable programs for the management of complex female health disorders such as PCOS, endometriosis, early pregnancy loss, early menopause and IVF preparation.

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