If your health goals are linked to promoting conception, functional medicine and IV therapy from Toronto can offer support for fertility improvements. 

The lead-up to parenthood can be topsy-turvy, especially since the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 1 in 6 adults worldwide experience infertility. By re-evaluating your preconception health, there is potential to increase pregnancy chances. Preconception health is the state of your current health status before becoming pregnant, which can contribute to the health of your offspring. 

The Toronto Functional Medicine Centre (TFMC) can help prepare your body for conception. If you were to visit us for fertility concerns, we would likely discuss preconception. You may learn that some lifestyle factors can impact pregnancy plans, such as excessive weight, smoking, alcohol overindulgence, chronic stress, lacking essential nutrients, and exposures to toxicities. We also aim to address underlying health concerns (i.e. fatigue, stress, or poor digestion). This may include upgrading your nutrient intake, regulating blood sugar levels, and tackling hormonal imbalances to enhance wellness in the context of fertility.

Understanding functional medicine treatments for fertility

The functional medicine approach to wellness could support conception when merged with healthy living (i.e. exercise, etc.), acupuncture, and other therapeutic modalities. Our integrative functional medicine treatments may include a wide range of treatment modalities for fostering fertility, such as fertility-supporting herbs,  acupuncture, functional nutrition guidance, and medications designed to help encourage fertility enhancement. 

Scrutinizing your body’s levels of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, antioxidants, etc. can help us establish nutritional shortcomings. That said, we’ll likely recommend functional lab tests (i.e. metabolomics test) to address nutrient deficiencies, while helping to upgrade preconception with the help of major antioxidants, essential vitamins, trace minerals and more. Thus, we may recommend taking certain oral supplementation at home. 

Supplements in liquid, capsule or tablet forms can increase your nutrient intake – but for some patients, this may not be practical due to malabsorption. This means nutrients cannot be digested properly due to a chronic condition (i.e. Crohn’s), otherwise unwanted side effects can occur. Delivering nutrients via IV vitamin therapy can be suitable for malabsorption, as the treatment automatically bypasses the digestive tract; this is because an IV tube is inserted into the vein. This allows for concentrations of nutrients to enter the blood stream, reducing chances of digestive discomforts that can come with oral supplementation. 

Intravenous therapy (vitamin infusions/IV nutrient therapy) is a modality offered in our IV Lounge for supportive measures. In addition to a healthy lifestyle and other functional medicine therapies, it could contribute to optimal functioning. If you’re experiencing fatigue in your conception journey, adjuvant intravenous drips may offer beneficial effects, and could help rejuvenate bodily functions in these ways: 

• • Offers an effective rehydration of fluids to support fluid loss, especially after sports/physical performances or viral illness. 
  • Helps with keeping your blood cells healthy while encouraging blood cell formation; may enhance cellular energy production, too.
  • They can be customized with personal ingredients for health goals related to whole-body inflammation, immune health, liver detoxification, post-exercise recovery, skin health, and more. 

By modifying IV doses of nutrients, we can potentially help target the root of your chief health concerns, such as combat  fatigue and boost fertility . Our IV Lounge customizes therapeutic doses as functional medicine-based IV therapy. Tailored-made, scientifically-formulated IV therapies are freshly compounded with natural ingredients and no added preservatives. Several nutrients are offered, including trace minerals, folic acid, alpha lipoic acid, major minerals, amino acids, NAD+, glutathione, and Myers Cocktail, a famous vitamin infusion. Vitamin drip sessions are supervised by our medical doctor, naturopathic doctor, nurse practitioner and registered nurses. 

Patients can get intravenous infusion drips from our IV Lounge as an adjuvant treatment. When IV therapy drips are administered with a healthy standard of living and other therapies, they can support optimal health. 

Recommendations for optimal nutrients 

Our functional medicine and IV therapy providers can tailor your treatment plan to target preconception. After conducting lab tests (i.e. complete blood count, etc.) and assessing your core components (i.e. medical history, lifestyle), a well-rounded protocol will be implemented. This may contain the use of essential nutrients to aid your fertility journey, and these nutrients may include: 

Nutrient	How it may affect fertility
Vitamin C	Oxidative stress from free radical accumulations can hinder egg quality. Vitamin C is a free radical scavenger that may support cellular health protection, which is promising for increasing fertility chances.
Selenium	The ovaries contain high concentrations of this micronutrient; this nutritional deficiency has been linked to “…implantation failure, altered embryonic development and, ultimately, infertility,” confirms a Frontiers in Nutrition article.
Glutathione	IV glutathione therapy or oral support can help prevent further damage from pollutants, operating in the body as a potent antioxidant for detoxification processes. “Glutathione shields eggs from damage caused by oxidative stress…and as such, egg quality is dependent on it,” confirms an article from the journal JBRA Assisted Reproduction.
NAC (N-acetylcysteine)	As another powerful antioxidant, NAC may be supportive for infertility that’s linked to PCOS. Further research is needed, though it appears in studies that NAC could offer “profound” effects in women with insulin resistance and high body mass index (BMI), confirms a Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology paper.
Zinc	A zinc deficiency can surprisingly affect fertility outcomes. Studies have shown that lacking zinc can disturb oocyte quality; this is imperative to note, as zinc is needed in the female human body for producing eggs.
B vitamins	As reported by studies, certain levels of B vitamins in the body before conception may be beneficial for fostering pregnancy planning and infertility treatment outcomes. These vitamins include B12, riboflavin, and folate. Know more about our functional medicine guide to vitamin B complex in our blog.

*Note: At the Toronto Functional Medicine Centre, IV therapy drips are offered exclusively as an adjunctive treatment.

Meet a functional medicine healthcare provider at the TFMC 

If you’re struggling with getting pregnant, our integrative functional medicine programs can help. Our patient-centered approach to wellness can assist women with a wide range of health issues next to infertility, such as inflammatory bowel disease, mental clarity (brain fog), blood pressure regulation, hormonal imbalances, food sensitivities, collagen production, low energy levels, autoimmune diseases, and other health concerns. 

Our personalized service could offer health benefits to your quality of life. So, let us know which therapies you’d like included in your treatment plan! Our multidisciplinary approach allows for combining your IV treatment service with acupuncture, allopathic medicine, naturopathic medicine, detoxification therapies, bio-identical hormone treatments, and other modalities.  

For fertility health goals, please contact us for your initial consultation. Let’s help boost your conception possibilities with the support of functional medicine and IV therapy from Toronto. 

Disclaimer: The information in this article is designed for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. This information should not be used to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting a doctor. Consult with a health care practitioner before relying on any information in this article or on this website.

 

References

Adeoye O, Olawumi J, Opeyemi A, Christiania O. Review on the role of glutathione on oxidative stress and infertility. JBRA Assist Reprod. 2018 Mar 1;22(1):61-66. doi: 10.5935/1518-0557.20180003. PMID: 29266896; PMCID: PMC5844662.

Chavarro JE, Rich-Edwards JW, Rosner BA, Willett WC. Use of multivitamins, intake of B vitamins, and risk of ovulatory infertility. Fertil Steril. 2008 Mar;89(3):668-76. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2007.03.089. Epub 2007 Jul 10. PMID: 17624345; PMCID: PMC2366795.

Dahlen CR, Reynolds LP, Caton JS. Selenium supplementation and pregnancy outcomes. Front Nutr. 2022 Oct 31;9:1011850. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1011850. PMID: 36386927; PMCID: PMC9659920.

Devi N, Boya C, Chhabra M, Bansal D. N-acetyl-cysteine as adjuvant therapy in female infertility: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Basic Clin Physiol Pharmacol. 2020 Nov 19;32(5):899-910. doi: 10.1515/jbcpp-2020-0107. PMID: 34592079.

Garner TB, Hester JM, Carothers A, Diaz FJ. Role of zinc in female reproduction. Biol Reprod. 2021 May 7;104(5):976-994. doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioab023. PMID: 33598687; PMCID: PMC8599883.

Li, X., Wang, Z., Wang, H., Xu, H., Sheng, Y., & Lian, F. (2022). Role of N-acetylcysteine treatment in women with advanced age undergoing IVF/ICSI cycles: A prospective study. Frontiers in Medicine, 9, 917146. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.917146

“Planning for pregnancy,” from the CDC, last reviewed February 15, 2023, viewed on October 23, 2023. 

Sharma R, Biedenharn KR, Fedor JM, Agarwal A. Lifestyle factors and reproductive health: taking control of your fertility. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2013 Jul 16;11:66. doi: 10.1186/1477-7827-11-66. PMID: 23870423; PMCID: PMC3717046.

Skoracka K, Ratajczak AE, Rychter AM, Dobrowolska A, Krela-Kaźmierczak I. Female Fertility and the Nutritional Approach: The Most Essential Aspects. Adv Nutr. 2021 Dec 1;12(6):2372-2386. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmab068. PMID: 34139003; PMCID: PMC8634384.

“Vitamin B May Counter Negative Effects of Pesticide on Fertility” from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, posted January 5, 2015, viewed on Octonber 23, 2023.