hello everyone and welcome back Dr Samina Mitha here Naturopathic Doctor
and today what we're going to be talking about is the top five supplements for pcos and infertility
that i've personally seen clinically work well and also that i've seen in the research to have enough
information for us to really use for those women who are trying to conceive and who have pcos so
surprisingly or not surprisingly i should say the first supplement is myo-inositol so this is
by far you know one of the go-to supplements for pcos in general but also for fertility outcomes
it's probably one of the most talked about therapeutic agents with women who have pcos
who are trying to conceive the reason being is that myo-inositol can have a big impact
on ovarian health and it has so many benefits that i'm going to highlight in just a second
so the first thing is that it actually really improve improves insulin sensitivity which
can ultimately help to restore ovulation which is so important when it comes to pcos
because we often find that pcos or in pcos ovulation is delayed and in fact some studies
have actually said that myo-inositol can be can be just as good as metformin there was a study
that was completed in 2010 or yeah 2010 and it showed that myo-inositol was superior to metformin
several studies have also reported that myoinositol can actually help
the fluid that's inside the follicle that houses the egg so therefore it can actually help with
improving end quality and maturation it's so important especially in pcos as sometimes egg
quality can be compromised but also just in general with women who are going through ivf
myoinositol can be a really great option it also helps to improve the response
to lh this is luteinizing hormone and fsh follicle stimulating hormone from the brain
to the ovary therefore ultimately helping with ovulation it can also improve follicular health
like we spoke about but also implantation rates in women who are going through ivf
so so many benefits to myoinositol especially in pcos and its ability to work around sensitizing
the cell to insulin so helping to reduce insulin resistance and also help ovarian and egg quality
okay so let's talk about n-acetyl cysteine so n-acetyl cysteine is a very important supplement
that's been specifically researched for pcos and infertility and n-acetyl cysteine is actually
derived from an amino acid called l-cysteine and it's historically been used to help thin
the mucus during bronchitis and different chest related concerns but in terms of pcos
and infertility there are als there's a few benefits that we should really talk about
so the first one is its antioxidant properties it's actually a precursor
to the most important antioxidant i would say in our body called glutathione therefore you know
n-acetyl cysteine has very great anti-inflammatory benefits so if there's any inflammation present
it can be really helpful in those cases it's actually been shown to improve insulin sensitivity
so it can actually help with insulin resistance as well and it's actually been shown when it's
used in conjunction or in a study they actually used it in conjunction with letrozole and it
actually improved rates of ovulation and pregnancy rates so it could even help with ovulation in pcos
additionally n-acetyl cysteine actually can help to reduce serum testosterone levels which is so
important when it comes to pcos since we know testosterone can be high in many many cases so
n-acetyl cysteine really great anti-antioxidant and lots of good benefits to pcos such as insulin
resistance reducing insulin resistance helping with egg quality and also ovulation and reducing
testosterone okay so let's talk about co-enzyme q10 really popular antioxidant for fertility in
general but just to give you a background the mitochondria is a cell in the body that produces
energy and in order to produce this energy we need co enzyme q10 so in our bodies we have the
most amount of co enzyme q10 or a large a really large concentration of mitochondria in our ovaries
meaning we have the most amount of co enzyme Q10 in our ovaries in general so additionally only the
mitochondria from the mother is passed down to the embryo so it's really important to help the
mitochondria and support its functions and the way we do that is giving a little bit of coenzyme q10
oftentimes the doses for coenzyme q10 can range from 200 to 600 milligrams
so you know talk to your doctor naturopathic doctor about what dose is appropriate in your case
so coenzyme q10 it can it's an antioxidant like we said it can actually improve the
number of mature follicles endometrial lining and improve ovulation rates in women with pcos
and also has been shown to help in those women who are resistant to the drug the fertility drug
called clomid it also can improve glucose control blood pressure and elevated cholesterol and
actually can preserve ovarian reserve so really really great supplement for pcos and infertility
so number four is probably one of the most important vitamins we have called vitamin d
you know known to be our sunshine vitamin and additionally
it's actually extremely important for women who have pcos and have hormonal imbalances
in fact vitamin d is actually more similar to a hormone and an influence influences so many
of the biochemical processes in the reproductive system we actually have found that vitamin d has
receptor sites in all areas of the reproductive system the ovary the endometrion and the placenta
so it affects our correcting the deficiency and when we correct the deficiency it actually boosts
ovulation improves hormone levels such as LH insulin testosterone and sex hormone binding
globulin it improves insulin resistance in women with pcos which ultimately even helps to raise
pregnancy rates in women undergoing ivf so super important to make sure you've checked your vitamin
d and the blood making sure you aren't deficient and if you are you're regularly taking it
even if you do get sun exposure um really for sun exposure you need to be out there for at least
30 minutes seeing your skin getting you know red to know that you have had enough vitamin d
um absorbed into your skin if you aren't getting that uh which is very common in canada where we
live um it's really important to be taking vitamin d consistently throughout the year
last but not least our botanicals these are herbal plant extracts that can be really helpful uh for
women with pcos there's a few that i'm going to mention here called black cohash which is
cimicifuga racemosa which can actually help with ovulation and supporting healthy estrogen levels
to help women with pcos to ovulate and then also licorice and white peony together in a 50:50 ratio
can actually help promote ovulation and also reduce testosterone levels
so hope that was helpful these are the top five supplements for pcos and infertility to consider
if you have any questions please drop them in the comments below and i'll see you in the next video