CoEnzyme Q10 and Fertility

I've been reading a lot about fertility and the positive effects of taking CoEnzyme Q10, prior to getting pregnant. Pretty amazing stuff!!!

Not only does it help a man produce "better" sperm, but it also seems to improve egg quality in women, and helps them develop more follicles.

Here is an article I found... I'm copying and pasting it here, but you can find the original on THIS PAGE.

Coenzyme Q10: Fertility Energy for Older Eggs and Sperm

by Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, Dec. 28, 2009

For years, doctors have been proscribing Co-enzyme Q10, a supplement that helps to better produce energy in the mitochondria of cells, to patients with congestive heart failure and diabetes, and athletes have been taking it to improve their performance. Ninety-five percent of the body’s energy is generated with Co-enzyme Q10, and therefore, the organs with the highest energy requirements like the heart and the liver have the highest concentrations. Now some fertility doctors believe that the supplement may also improve female and male fertility.

Dr. Yaakov Bentov, an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto's Center for Advanced Reproductive Technology, says that as a woman ages, her eggs become less efficient during fertilization because the chromosomes don’t replicate as well. “The egg needs to complete a demanding process and often when a women reaches her late 30s and early 40s, there is not enough energy in the cells,” he says.

In a 2009 study published in The Journal of Fertility and Sterility, Bentov and his colleagues found that taking up to 600 milligrams a day of Co-enzyme Q10 -- which can be purchased at any drug store -- actually helped to improve egg quality in older women and improved fertilization rates.

“It may improve the quality of eggs by correcting their energy which improves the division of chromosome during fertilization,” Bentov claims.

Studies have also found that Co-enzyme Q10 may also improve male infertility. A July 2009 study in The Journal of Urology looked at 212 infertile men who took the 300 mg of the supplement for 30 weeks, and found that it improved both sperm density and motility.

You may want to ask your doctor what she thinks about this supplement.

Read more about "rejuvenating" aging eggs in Fertility Authority's Aging Eggs: Exciting Research Is on the Horizon article

Here is the other article I read:

http://www.conceiveonline.com/articles/could-coenzyme-q10-help-you-get-pregnant

Loved this part:  "Half the mice in the experiment got a placebo, while half got coenzyme Q10; the animals that got the vitamin produced more egg follicles, and more and healthier eggs."

I should probably mention that the mice were treated with the supplement for the equivalent of a decade in human years.  Still, you never know...

Whatever the case, I plan to be taking CoQ10 regularly for the next year!

EB

UPDATE 10/11/14:  I just wanted to make a comment that although I have "sort of" taken a break from TTC, I have been taking this Coenzyme Q10 (300-400 mg/day)  for the last few months (I started, then stopped for about a year) to improve the quality of my eggs, so that if and when I am ready to TTC again, I will be in better shape. If I "actively" try to conceive I will increase the Coenzyme Q10 to 600mg/day.

I've also been taking this brand of  Astragalus (6 pills a day), which is known in Chinese medicine to reverse the effects of aging. And I have definitely noticed a difference. I am producing a lot more cervical mucus (to the point where sometimes it feels like I peed in my pants), my skin texture is a lot clearer, I am looking younger, and I can feel when I am ovulating (I get pangs in my ovaries, which had stopped for a while since for the last year I've taken a serious break from TTC).

I have also been using a PEMF Machine, which is shown to help improve the energy production from your mitochondria, which can improve the quality of your eggs. You can read more about that by clicking HERE. Since I've been doing these three things I've noticed an improvement in my menstrual cycle. It's longer and my blood looks better (more of the bright red kind).



Another thing I noticed is, my hair gets oily a lot faster. I used to be able to go a whole week without washing it, and now that I have added these 2 supplements, my hair actually starts to smell after 2 days! I wouldn't necessarily say this is a great side effect, but it makes me feel good because oily hair is something I experienced when taking DHEA, which is known to produce better quality eggs. If my body is going back to doing things it used to do when it was younger... I'm all for it. I used to have really oily hair in my 20's... couldn't go more than 2 days without washing it.

I did a little more research on Coenzyme Q10 and fertility, and discovered this discussion online.. it seems that there are a good amount of women out there, who feel that it helped them:

These are the brands I've been taking:
Coenzyme Q10
Astragalus

Have a great day!

EB