Dr. Mark Hyman explains how sugar and refined carbs create hormonal imbalances that cause infertility in men and women, including PCOS. He outlines dietary and lifestyle changes that have helped patients conceive.
Hi, this is Dr. Mark Hyman, welcome to my weekly house call, your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question is, Dr. Hyman, my husband and I are suffering from infertility and we're wondering if there's anything we can do. Does any of this connect to diet or lifestyle or is it just bad luck? Well, I'm sorry to say that one in seven couples in America have infertility, which is a lot of people. And the question is why and why is it on the increase? Well, it's on the increase just like obesity is on the increase and diabetes is on the increase. And here's the trick. Sugar and organ fat, belly fat, drive hormonal imbalances that cause infertility. And this in women is called PCOS. It also happens in men, right? Men also get lower testosterone, they lose body hair, They lose facial hair, they get big bellies, they grow breasts. This is what happens to men when they have too much sugar. And their testosterone levels drop and their sex life and sex drive goes down with sugar. But women also, this is a big problem. It's called PCOS or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. And it's not an ovarian problem, it's actually a nutritional problem. And the consequences of eating too much sugar and refined carbs is that it actually increases testosterone in women. They get more acne, they get hair loss on their head. You see those bald women with a little hair loss on their head? It causes central body fat and irregular menstrual cycles, heavy cycles, what we call anovulatory cycles where you don't ovulate every month so you can't get pregnant. And it also leads to weird cysts in your ovaries. That's why they call it Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. but it's really a nutritional problem that is driven by eating too much sugar and refined carbs and not eating enough of the good fats and the good foods. So I've seen this over and over again. I've had extraordinary experiences. I remember recently a woman came to me who was very overweight, who had PCOS, who was struggling to get pregnant. She even had a little bit of a beard. It was kind of embarrassing. And she had acne and she had just bad skin and central body fat, regular periods, the whole story. and so we put on an aggressive program of very low glycemic diet which is higher in fat, actually good fats, which where you get your hormones from like olive oil and avocados and nuts and seeds and coconut oil, all the good fats, even clean animal protein which is grass fed or sustainably organically raised is fine. And we took away all the processed food, we took away all the snacks and the chips and the carbs, we took away all the sugary foods and the sodas. And not only did she lose weight, but within a very short period of time, really just a few months, she started ovulating again, her cycles got regular, and she was able to have a baby. It was a miracle. I always say, I've got a lot of women pregnant, but mostly through my medical care. I have two kids, and that's about it. So we have an amazing intervention that we can use for infertility in America, which is diet based. And it's actually a very high fat, very low sugar, low glycemic diet. We also use a lot of great nutrients like vitamin D and fish oil and the B vitamins and probiotics to help the gut. All these things will help balance the hormones in a woman's body. Exercise also helps, stress reduction helps. The diet is really critical though and that's what drives so much of these hormonal problems. so I encourage you if you have infertility, don't stress about it. There's simple things you can do to make a profound difference. And there are plenty of functional medicine practitioners that work with patients with infertility with great success by helping them deal with the root causes of disease. Even in men, taking nutrients and supplements and changing their diet can increase their sperm count, can help optimize fertility, and really help solve this chronic epidemic of infertility that so many people suffer from. from. So I hope this has been helpful and you've enjoyed it. I encourage you to share it with your friends and family on Facebook or Twitter. If you like it, sign up for my weekly newsletter and send me your questions at drhyman.com so next week I may make a house call to you.
