If you’re planning to go through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) or Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), you probably want to make sure that you have as many eggs as possible available to retrieve. In that case, it’s important to think about the factors that affect your egg count.
Before diving in, I’d like to make a distinction between two different ways to look at your egg count.
People are often familiar with the concept of their total ovarian reserve. You’re born with a certain number of follicles (immature eggs) and won’t develop any additional follicles in your lifetime.
However, there’s another measure of egg count that is relevant to an egg retrieval: the Antral Follicle Count (AFC). This is the number of follicles in a given cycle that have the potential to develop into mature eggs with medication.
AFC can vary from one cycle to the next. It doesn’t necessarily reflect your total ovarian reserve. The majority of the factors discussed in this post will affect your AFC. Making changes to these factors can bring your AFC back up in future cycles.
7 Factors That Can Lower Your Egg Count
Medications
While there is a variety of medications that can potentially affect AFC, one that seems to frequently come up is the use of contraceptives. A 2017 study observed the effect of combined hormonal contraceptives on AFC. The results showed that those taking this form of contraceptive had a lower AFC than those not taking any. Those who took a break from contraceptives saw their AFC count increase, plateauing around the 6-7 month mark.
Anecdotally, in my acupuncture practice, I often see people having low follicle counts on their ultrasounds shortly after coming off birth control. Over time, these numbers do improve.
Age
Age is a commonly known factor that reduces egg count. Generally, a 25 year old will have a larger number of eggs available to retrieve than a 42 year old. However, factors like lifestyle and nutrition can help your body recruit a larger number of follicles in preparation for an IVF cycle. Working on egg quality will be of particular importance in this case, as well.
Stress
Hormones are a big factor affecting how many follicles are available in a cycle. These hormones also work in balance with each other. This means that when you start producing more of one hormone, it influences the levels of other hormones.
Having high levels of stress hormones creates a lot of imbalances with your fertility hormones. Periods of prolonged stress can negatively impact your antral follicle count. Managing stress levels will be key.
Genetics
A number of genetic factors can lead to diminished ovarian reserve. Unfortunately, in these cases, it can be a challenge to increase antral follicle count significantly. Focusing on egg quality will be key in these instances.
Lifestyle
Your day to day habits can have a big impact on your follicles. Some obvious habits like smoking can lower your egg count. But did you know that exercising too much can also poorly impact your count? I’m not talking about going for a daily walk, which is actually quite beneficial. Lots of strenuous exercise, however, can have the opposite effect. It’s important to focus on balance.
Nutrition
Nutrition plays a big role in hormonal balance. And as mentioned earlier, hormonal balance directly impacts the antral follicle count. Diets that are generally low in nutrients and high in inflammatory ingredients can impact egg count.
A fertility focused balanced diet can go a long way to balance out your hormones for an optimal AFC.
Health conditions affecting egg count
The list of health conditions that can impact egg count is long. I’ll focus on a few common ones. Conditions that physical restrict flow and movement around the reproductive organs, such as endometriosis, fibroids, and other adhesions can lower follcile count. Autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s and Lupus are also often associated with lower follicle counts. Working with allied health practitioners to help manage your condition can be quite beneficial.
What to do if your egg count is low
If your egg count is low for reasons other than age and genetics, there’s a lot that can be done to help bring your count back up. A balanced diet, the right supplementation, and some fertility acupuncture can make a big difference. Focusing on improving the quality of your follicles will also help reduce the drop off rate if you’re going through IVF.
If you’d like to know the ins and outs of improving egg quality, join the waitlist for The Guide to Egg and Sperm Health!