Women's Health
Folate, magnesium, iron, and other micronutrients play a key role in female fertility. Learn how optimized micronutrient status supports your cycle and increases the chances of a healthy pregnancy.
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Women's health is becoming increasingly important to us. This is because there are many women-specific topics that are still far too rarely discussed. There is a significant need for education. That's why we're committed to addressing health topics that explicitly affect women. We're also grateful to have Annika (Biochemist, MSc.) as a female member of our team, who conducts in-depth research in this area.
Annika has already tackled one or another women's health topic, such as PCOS and Inositol or recently Estrogen Dominance (though not only women are affected!). We notice: these topics resonate strongly. There are still too many myths and misinformation in the area of pregnancy as well. Many pregnant women remain uncertain about topics like Vitamin A in Pregnancy. We've already tried to do educational work here. We need to ensure that this is no longer an informational gray area, but becomes a kind of basic knowledge that, for example, pregnant women can work with.
Take folate as an example. Poor folate status is repeatedly associated with increased risk of female infertility.¹ Conversely, it has been shown that optimal folate status promotes a smooth pregnancy and protects the unborn child from birth defects such as neural tube defects. It is very well established that high folate levels (in red blood cells) of >1000 nmol/L significantly reduce the risk of neural tube defects, cutting it to one quarter.²
In many countries, including Switzerland, a similar pattern emerges: Many women have folate levels associated with increased risk of neural tube defects, while only few women reach the maximally protective 1000 nmol/L.³,⁴ Folate is the key to optimized methylation of our cells. This keeps cellular metabolism functioning properly and ensures normal gene regulation. To reach optimal levels, however, women need to supplement with 400 or 800 µg of folate several weeks, ideally months before becoming pregnant!⁴ Basic knowledge. A brief aside: Ideally, of course, you'd take a multivitamin consistently that provides 400 µg of folate, so levels are already in optimized ranges from the start. (Oh, how convenient!)
There is a whole range of nutrients associated with lower infertility risk. In a recent study based on US NHANES 2013–2016 data, for example, higher intake of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Magnesium, Iron, Lycopene, and again Folate were each associated with a 10–64% lower risk of female infertility.⁵ Micronutrient status is so important for female (and of course male!) fertility that recent research is discovering the topic for itself: "Since diet and lifestyle appear to be important factors influencing fertility, it makes sense to expand knowledge in this area."⁶
Expand knowledge in this area! Mind you, not in the 1960s, but in 2024… In many countries, people lack adequate intake of many nutrients. Of particular note are Vitamin D and Folate, Iron, Calcium and Iodine, as well as Magnesium and Zinc.
