Food, Fat, and Infertility

So let's get into your area of interest, which I think is really relevant in this whole space of food and fat and sugar that we've been talking about. It's this epidemic that we're seeing in the world, and particularly in America, of infertility. As I mentioned, it's, I think affects 1 in 7 couples, which is just stunning. That's like 15% of the population can't get pregnant. And that's why there's been huge burgeoning of these fertility doctors and IVF treatments, in vitro fertilization and all these techniques and women getting pumped full of hormones and like, is there a better way? And like, how would you approach this? And what has been your five step approach to dealing with this whole issue?

Yeah, so all great questions. So approximately like 50% of that 1 in 7 has been labeled unexplained infertility, which means that they haven't been able to find an anatomical issue or a functional issue where these reproductive technology can really lend a hand. So in that 50%, I started actually noticing patterns in my patient population that led to the development of these five steps. The five steps are around nutrition, detoxification, modifiable genomic factors, hormonal balance, and then the psycho social spiritual integration of the whole piece. So I think like many of our more chronic conditions, infertility is another one of those conditions that's been heavily influenced by external factors so, like poor nutrient density, too much sugar, too many refined carbohydrates, too much exposure, too many exposures to toxins, too much stress. And I think that's one of the main reasons why we see it persisting in our culture today.

So let's talk about each one of those. The nutrition, detoxification hormones and the psycho spiritual issues. I mean, all these factors are quite significant and each one is like a whole conversation. But I think we can get into it because I think it all starts with food. And you know what, I actually been doing functional medicine for 20 years and I work with a lot of patients and a lot of them have infertility because a lot of people have infertility. And I just would kind of do what I would do to help them get healthy and then they get pregnant. And so I would always get these notes from my patients. Hey, Dr. Hyman, thanks for getting me pregnant. I got a joke. I've gotten a lot of my patients pregnant. But it's really amazing when you see people who struggled for a long time and spent tens and tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get pregnant and just make a few of these tweaks in these systems and people will get pregnant. So let's talk about nutrition. What is the role of nutrition in fertility?

Well, that's a big question. I mean, I think that's fundamental. Like you said, it's foundational to everything. The concept that I try to talk to my patients about is around nutrient density very clearly. Whole, natural, organic, unprocessed foods that have a lot of, you know, kind of bang for your buck in the sense of how many, how much nutrient, how much nutritional value it delivers to you. And one of the things that I also realized in this is that fat is the number one macronutrient for fertility.

So if you want to get pregnant, eat, eat fat, lots of fat, get pregnant. That sounds like a good book, right?

Exactly. It plays such a crucial role for.

Why, why does fat important.

I'll start with kind of the end and maybe back up. So the end result is baby brains are made out of fat.

Baby brains are made up of fat.

Yes.

Amazing.

And so without enough fat and other nutrients, you're not going to be able to create this life. But separate from that, by the way.

If you don't have enough fat, your body thinks danger, starvations, don't get pregnant.

Right.

Like we have mechanisms in our biology that prevent women from getting pregnant when there's not enough nutrients, when there's scarcity, it's not a good time to conceive. So the body has these built in systems that prevent us from getting pregnant that are automatic when we don't eat the right diet.

Yeah, exactly. It's the evolutionary part of it. Right. Our biological intelligence that outwits our cognitive intelligence. Fat being this very nutrient dense. What do you want to call it? I guess macronutrient helps stabilize hormones, for example. So one of the leading causes of infertility is something called polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is caused by insulin resistance from eating too much sugar, too many refined carbs. That insulin resistance then interferes with estrogen and testosterone. In fact, it promotes the conversion of estrogen to testosterone and thereby shuts down ovulation.

So, you know, that's why women get acne and grow beards and mustaches and lose a hair on their head. That's right, because they're actually, they're insulin.

Resistant and then they produce a lot of male hormones.

So it's not really an ovarian problem, it's a nutritional problem.

It is, yeah. When it comes right down to it, it's a lack of fat problem because.

Too much sugar, not enough fat, leads to this PCOS problem, which, by the way, causes. No, what we call an ovulatory cycle. That's no ovulation. Right, right. And then irregular periods and heavy bleeding and all these weird things that are really driven by what you're eating.

Yes, absolutely.

And doctors use all these drugs, like birth control pills, and even worse, to kind of shift this whole system instead of actually having them change their diet.

Dealing with a problem. And of course, being on birth control negates the ability to get pregnant anyway, so what's the point of that? But, yeah, I mean, the ways that fat also stabilizes hormones is that it serves as one of the primary backbones of our sex hormones. So cholesterol is the steroid backbone of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, dhea, et cetera.

So wait a minute. Cholesterol's not bad?

No, it's crucial.

It's not bad. What you're saying is it actually. It creates all the hormones. It's actually the building block for all your sex hormones.

That's right. That's exactly right. Whereas our body will make some of it, it doesn't make all of it. So it's reliant on this dietary component in order to feed that process and produce adequate sex hormones that contribute to conception.