How Can You Improve Your Egg Quality for Better Fertility?

Lots of talk about the biological clock swirls around numbers: You’re born with all the eggs you’ll ever have, and each year you lose another chunk, the decline ramping up precipitously as you reach and surpass the fateful age of 35. But the truth is, the reproductive potential of your ovaries isn’t just a numbers game. The quality of your eggs, or whether they have a normal genetic makeup and optimal capacity to support the development of an embryo, plays a key role in determining if you ultimately get pregnant and have a healthy baby. It’s only natural to wonder, then, how you might improve your egg quality for better odds.

Off the bat, you should know that a great deal of egg quality, much like quantity, is a function of age. As we grow older, “not only do we lose eggs, but the eggs we retain get more and more DNA mutations, which can lead to an egg with the wrong number of chromosomes,” Anate Brauer, MD, a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist at RMA of New York, tells SELF. “That egg either won’t fertilize, will fertilize and then not implant, or will fertilize, implant, and ultimately lead to miscarriage.” Genetic abnormalities, health conditions like endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and medical treatments like chemotherapy and radiation can also mess with DNA, compounding the age-related quality dropoff. And certain lifestyle factors that put the body in a stressful state can potentially have a similar impact, Dr. Brauer says (more on this to come).

DNA normalcy aside, other facets of an egg—like its shape and the function of its cellular structures—can also influence its potential to get fertilized and continually divide and grow into a healthy pregnancy, Brooke Rossi, MD, a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist at Ohio Reproductive Medicine, tells SELF. The workings of an egg’s mitochondria, or energy-producing powerhouses, is especially key, as an egg requires a ton of fuel to turn into an embryo and ultimately develop into a human being. Factors like age, health, and yes, lifestyle can also futz with mitochondrial form and function, shifting your egg quality (for better or worse).

To what extent you can really modify any of these aspects of egg quality with lifestyle behaviors, however, is still scientifically fuzzy. There’s also no test for egg quality—blood tests for anti-müllerian hormone (AMH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) only give you a picture of your egg quantity, so “we don’t know if there’s a quality issue unless we pull the eggs out and look at them under a microscope, as with in-vitro fertilization (IVF),” Dr. Rossi says. But given the relevance of egg quality for a thriving pregnancy, it’s worth considering behaviors with some research-backed potential to improve it—if only because this might be the one aspect of your fertility you can control, she notes. Read on to learn what the research says can (and can’t) affect egg quality, and what you might do about it.

What are the lifestyle factors that could make a difference in your egg quality?

Behaviors that could potentially harm egg quality

As mentioned, doing certain not-so-supportive activities could hurt your eggs largely by causing what’s known as oxidative stress in your body, which occurs when cell-damaging molecules called free radicals outnumber the helpful antioxidants that neutralize them. In particular, smoking, vaping, drinking alcohol, skipping sleep, using recreational drugs (like marijuana), and downing a ton of sugar may all contribute to an excess of those free-wheeling free radicals and impair your body’s ability to defend against them. Over time, that can damage your cells, including your eggs, potentially impacting their DNA or the functioning of their mitochondria. And as noted, both changes can make it tougher to get pregnant or carry a healthy baby to term.

And that’s not even taking into account the other ways these behaviors might interfere with your overall fertility (outside of egg quality), like messing with certain hormone levels linked to ovulation and making it tougher for an embryo to implant in your uterus.

But just like any negative fallout on your body from unhealthy habits, the effects of things like tobacco, alcohol, and sugar on your eggs are dose-dependent—meaning, they’re more likely with chronic heavy use. For example, Dr. Rossi points to drinking boozy beverages every night as a risky choice, while Dr. Brauer notes that consistently eating processed foods (which tend to be amped with sugar) could pile on the oxidative stress. So it may be more helpful to think about tempering these behaviors, versus cutting them out completely. In the realm of smoking and vaping, it’s easier to slip into frequent use—and fertility-damaging territory—given the addictive nature of nicotine. We’ve got comprehensive guides to quitting both smoking and vaping from people who’ve been there if you could use some support.

Behaviors that might support egg quality

Lifestyle activities on the pro-egg-quality side of things fall into two general buckets: what you eat and how regularly you move.

In terms of food factors that may help improve egg quality, most of the research is centered around the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes plant foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, whole grains, and olive oil as well as lean animal proteins (like poultry and seafood) and dairy.

There are a bunch of ways taking the Med approach could lend a hand to your eggs: The influx of antioxidants from all the plants can bolster those cells’ defenses against damaging free radicals, while minerals like B vitamins (including folate), iron, and selenium found in whole grains may help with egg development and maturation. Some research in animals also suggests that omega-3 fatty acids—found abundantly in fish—could enhance egg quality, while research in people using assisted reproductive tech (ART) like IVF points to a link between consumption of these fats and higher birth rates (though the reason why isn’t clear). Beyond egg quality, the collective hit of fiber and healthy fats from the Med diet can also reduce inflammation, keeping your uterus in good shape for implantation.

But while a handful of studies point to an association between the Med diet overall and greater success rates with ART, whether all of the above pathways actually pan out to boost egg quality—and enhance fertility—across the board isn’t clear. Some studies haven’t shown the same link—and it’s pretty tough to measure the impact of food choices on health outcomes while controlling for all other lifestyle habits people might be changing at the same time. Evidence also suggests the Med diet might be a bigger driver of fertility outcomes in people under 35, which makes sense since past that point, age-related declines in egg quality (and quantity) likely can’t be reversed.

On the exercise front, research suggests that regular moderate-intensity physical activity can support better fertility in general—likely in part by lowering inflammation and helping regulate ovulation in some folks—but studies that look at egg quality specifically are scant. There’s some evidence that moderate physical activity can enhance age-specific markers of ovarian reserve (like AMH and FSH levels that reflect egg quantity) for reasons that aren’t fully clear.

What we do know: Physical activity stresses the cells in your muscles, prompting them to create new mitochondria, which in turn supply them with extra energy to boost their function and endurance. Any evidence that exercise can also spur mitochondrial improvements in eggs comes from animal studies—but experts suggest it’s a worthwhile area for future research based on how essential mitochondria are for egg quality and reproductive health. All things considered, moving regularly (while avoiding overtraining) can likely bolster your fertility, perhaps in part due to its impact on your eggs.

What about supplements for better egg quality?

Supplements are sticky territory for any health qualm, egg quality included, because of the basic fact that the FDA doesn’t regulate them (like it does drugs), meaning you can’t guarantee that you’re getting what the label promises. And experts generally agree that it’s better to get nutrients from foods because your body can use them more easily in that format. But in the case of a few nutrients that might factor into egg quality, it’s tough to get ample amounts from food alone—so there may be a place for supplementation.

Perhaps the best example in this regard is CoQ1src, a vitamin-like enzyme found naturally in all of our cells. It has emerged as an egg-quality darling thanks in part to a few recent studies linking supplementation with higher pregnancy rates and better-quality embryos retrieved during fertility procedures. The only research that points to a cause-and-effect benefit of CoQ1src on egg quality, though, is in animals, where it appears to neutralize harmful free radicals and enhance mitochondrial function. But the same direct impacts haven’t been shown in people, nor have the observational studies been fully convincing; as Dr. Brauer points out, they’ve had mostly small sample sizes. And they haven’t actually demonstrated a benefit for the final pregnancy outcome: live birth rates.

Omega-3 fatty acids can be similarly tricky to get from food, as they’re primarily found in oily fish (like salmon and mackerel) and in smaller amounts in things like walnuts and flaxseeds—so you might be tempted to pop a fish oil capsule. But as with the evidence on consuming it in food, the research on omega-3 supplementation for egg quality is not super clear: Some observational studies suggest it can improve pregnancy and fertilization rates in the settings of both natural and tech-assisted conception, while other research analyzing its effects on fertility treatments has come up empty. A recent study did find that people who took an omega-3 supplement were 1.5 times as likely to conceive as those who didn’t—but the authors pointed to the need for large randomized trials to confirm this link and dig into why these healthy fats might bolster egg quality or other fertility metrics.

One other nutrient that’s notoriously challenging to get enough of from food is vitamin D; it’s mostly found in fatty fish, egg yolks, certain mushrooms, and fortified dairy products and cereals. (Our bodies also create some of it from exposure to sunlight.) Some research suggests vitamin D could affect how eggs develop and mature, perhaps thanks to its antioxidant abilities. There’s also evidence that being vitamin-D-deficient could up your risk for infertility and pregnancy complications as well as research to suggest taking it in supplement form may improve pregnancy rates in fertility patients. But that benefit might be more tied to the impact of vitamin D on non-egg-related aspects of fertility: It’s known to increase the thickness of your endometrium (the lining of the uterus) and make it easier for an embryo to implant. (After all, research has also found that the vitamin D status of egg donors has no impact on IVF outcomes in recipients, suggesting the nutrient might not be as relevant for eggs, specifically, as some may think.)

All the experts also note that beyond CoQ1src, omega-3, and vitamin D, your doctor might suggest you take a prenatal vitamin (containing at least 4srcsrc micrograms of folic acid) if you’re trying to conceive. The main reason is admittedly more about your potential baby: Supplementing with folic acid in early pregnancy is key to preventing neural tube defects in the fetus, Dr. Brauer says, so it’s wise to start taking it if there’s a chance you might get pregnant soon. And as Dr. Rossi notes, it’s possible that it could help with egg quality—it at least appears to be linked with a “modestly” higher ovarian reserve as well as higher live birth rates in people undergoing fertility treatment.

Ultimately, though, the data is pretty mixed on whether taking a supplement of any sort has a definitively positive outcome on egg quality. If you’re considering adding one into your regimen, be sure to talk to your doctor first. They’ll help you weigh any potential benefits against the costs in light of your health scenario, fertility goals, and budget.

The bottom line: Certain lifestyle behaviors and nutrients might influence egg quality in some people—but there isn’t enough research to make a hard-and-fast recommendation.

Tweaking your daily habits in alignment with the suggestions above is generally a low-stakes way to feel a sense of agency over your fertility. “You can’t control your age, you might not be able to control the quality of the sperm, but you may be able to make some potentially beneficial changes that may not be risky or expensive,” Dr. Rossi says. As she points out: “It certainly won’t hurt anyone to eat more vegetables or exercise.” Or to cool it on the smoking or drinking, for that matter.

To give yourself the best chance at improving your egg quality, you’d want to make these shifts for about three months before trying to conceive, Dr. Rossi says, which is roughly how long it takes for an ovarian follicle to grow into an egg that could be ovulated and turn into a pregnancy.

But just how much you might benefit likely depends on your starting point. If you have few risk factors for poor egg quality to begin with—say, you’re under 35, have no reproductive health conditions, and generally follow a supportive lifestyle—you might not see much of a difference from bypassing the occasional cocktail or taking fish oil, Dr. Rossi points out. Another thing to consider is if you’re already planning for fertility treatment down the line. “Patients often ask me, ‘Should I not do IVF or freeze my eggs right now so I can take supplements for three months beforehand?’ And I always say, ‘No, you’re just losing time,’” Dr. Brauer says, “and time is the most important supplement.”

The takeaway? It’s worthwhile to follow the recommendations that make sense for your lifestyle without putting pressure on yourself to get everything right. After all, considering your age and other aspects of your health, you may not be able to change your egg quality all that much…and it also might not even be the most important item influencing your fertility, Dr. Rossi points out. Other parameters, like uterine and tubal factors, as well as hormone levels, certain health conditions, and of course sperm quality could be bigger players in your case. So if you’re struggling to conceive, seeing a reproductive endocrinologist (an ob-gyn who specializes in fertility) is your best bet for understanding what’s getting in your way—and whether egg quality is a relevant part of the equation for you.