_{Pregnancy, Fertility, and Preconception Research Articles}

Sperm Health

Sperm count and quality matter—and they're easy to improve.

• The Effect of Nutrients and Dietary Supplements on Sperm Quality Parameters: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials
• Maximizing Male Fertility
• The effect of sperm DNA fragmentation on miscarriage rates
• Environmental Factors Affecting Sperm Count
• Genetic Considerations in Recurrent Pregnancy Loss
• Nutrient supplementation: improving male fertility fourfold
• Recurrent miscarriage linked to faulty sperm
• Sperm Could Be a Bigger Factor in Miscarriages
• Sperm DNA fragmentation is correlated with poor embryo development, lower implantation rate, and higher miscarriage rate
• Sperm Epigenetics and Its Impact on Male Fertility, Pregnancy Loss, and Health of Future Offsprings
• A Systematic Review and Evidence-based Analysis of Ingredients in Popular Male Fertility Supplements
• Falling sperm counts
• Plummeting sperm counts, shrinking penises: toxic chemicals threaten humanity
• Fertility and the aging male
• Temporal trends in sperm count: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis of samples collected globally in the 20th and 21st centuries

Egg Health

You have some control over how healthy your eggs are when you conceive.

• The effect of preconceptional multivitamin supplementation on the menstrual cycle
• A nutritional supplement for improving fertility in women: a pilot study
• IVF outcomes are associated with biomarkers of the homocysteine pathway in monofollicular fluid

Preconception

Healthy bodies are more likely to produce healthy pregnancies and babies, so it’s beneficial for both people to begin taking prenatal supplements at least six months before conception.

• Evidence based recommendations for an optimal prenatal supplement for women in the US: vitamins and related nutrients
• Before the beginning: nutrition and lifestyle in the preconception period and its importance for future health
• Nutrition And Reproduction: Is There Evidence To Support A “Fertility Diet” To Improve Mitochondrial Function?
• Origins of lifetime health around the time of conception: causes and consequences

Studies in Support of Our Ingredients

WeNatal for Her

Antioxidants (including selenium, manganese, and vitamins A, C, and E)

• Female dietary antioxidant intake and time to pregnancy among couples treated for unexplained infertility
• Lutein and preterm infants with decreased concentrations of brain carotenoids
• Monitoring Maternal Beta Carotene and Retinol Consumption May Decrease the Incidence of Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Offspring
• Reproductive aging results in a reconfigured ovarian antioxidant defense profile in rats
• The importance of antioxidant micronutrients in pregnancy
• The importance of folate, zinc and antioxidants in the pathogenesis and prevention of subfertility
• The roles of cellular reactive oxygen species, oxidative stress, and antioxidants in pregnancy outcomes
• Vitamin K supplementation during pregnancy for improving outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

B Vitamins

• Use of multivitamins, intake of B vitamins, and risk of ovulatory infertility

Choline

• Choline: Critical Role During Fetal Development and Dietary Requirements in Adults
• Eating more foods with choline during pregnancy could boost baby’s brain

Copper

• National Institutes of Health Copper fact sheet for health professionals
• Zinc and copper in pregnancy, correlations to fetal and maternal complications

Iodine

• Iodine Supplementation for Pregnancy and Lactation — United States and Canada: Recommendations of the American Thyroid Association
• Iodine and Breastfeeding

Inositol

• Inositol and In Vitro Fertilization with Embryo Transfer
• Inositol supplement improves clinical pregnancy rate in infertile women undergoing ovulation induction for ICSI or IVF-ET
• Nutritional Intervention Preconception and During Pregnancy to Maintain Healthy Glucose Metabolism and Offspring Health (“NiPPeR”): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Iron

• The impact of maternal iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia on child’s health
• Iron intake and risk of ovulatory infertility

Magnesium

• Effect of Magnesium Supplement on Pregnancy Outcomes: A Randomized Control Trial
• Magnesium in pregnancy

Methylfolate

• The impact of dietary folate intake on reproductive function in premenopausal women: a prospective cohort study
• The importance of folate, zinc and antioxidants in the pathogenesis and prevention of subfertility
• Polymorphisms in the MTHFR gene influence embryo viability and the incidence of aneuploidy
• Preconception folic acid treatment affects the microenvironment of the maturing oocyte in humans

Molybdenum

• A novel treatment for “morning sickness”: Nausea of pregnancy could be induced by excess sulfite which molybdenum can help alleviate

Vitamin A

• Monitoring Maternal Beta Carotene and Retinol Consumption May Decrease the Incidence of Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Offspring
• Vitamin A supplementation during pregnancy

Vitamin D

• Vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy
• Vitamin D deficiency and fetal growth
• Maternal vitamin D and fetal growth in early-onset severe preeclampsia

Zinc

• The importance of folate, zinc and antioxidants in the pathogenesis and prevention of subfertility
• Zinc supplementation for improving pregnancy and infant outcome
• Zinc and copper in pregnancy, correlations to fetal and maternal complications

WeNatal for Him

Acetyl L-Carnitine (an antioxidant)

• The Effect of Nutrients and Dietary Supplements on Sperm Quality Parameters: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials
• Effects of L-carnitine and L-acetyl-carnitine on testicular sperm motility and chromatin quality
• Levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the seminal plasma predicts the effectiveness of L-carnitine to improve sperm function in men with infertility
• Role of L-carnitine in male infertility

Antioxidants (including N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine, selenium, and vitamins A, C, and E)

• Antioxidants for male subfertility
• A systematic review of the effect of oral antioxidants on male infertility
• Etiologies of sperm oxidative stress

B Vitamins

• Effect of B9 and B12 vitamin intake on semen parameters and fertility of men with MTHFR polymorphisms

CoEnzyme Q10 (an antioxidant)

• Coenzyme Q10 concentrations in normal and pathological human seminal fluid
• Coenzyme Q10 Improves Sperm Parameters, Oxidative Stress Markers and Sperm DNA Fragmentation in Infertile Patients with Idiopathic Oligoasthenozoospermia
• Effect of Coenzyme Q10 supplementation on antioxidant enzymes activity and oxidative stress of seminal plasma: a double‐blind randomized clinical trial

Copper

• Role of copper in the process of spermatogenesis

Methylfolate

• Effect of B9 and B12 vitamin intake on semen parameters and fertility of men with MTHFR polymorphisms
• MTHFR isoform carriers. 5-MTHF (5-methyl tetrahydrofolate) vs folic acid: a key to pregnancy outcome: a case series
• MTHFR 677C>T Polymorphism Increases the Male Infertility Risk: A Meta-Analysis Involving 26 Studies
• Paternal preconception folate intake in relation to gestational age at delivery and birthweight of newborns conceived through assisted reproduction

Vitamin D

• Vitamin D and Male Fertility: An Updated Review
• The role of vitamin D in male fertility: A focus on the testis

Zinc

• Zinc is an Essential Element for Male Fertility: A Review of Zn Roles in Men’s Health, Germination, Sperm Quality, and Fertilization

Omega DHA+ (fish oil)

Omega-3s are important for every life stage and can help improve fertility, boost overall health, reduce inflammation, and support baby's brain & development.

• High-inflammation diets during pregnancy have been linked to 3x higher risk of premature birth compared to low-inflammation diets.
• Women who followed a Mediterranean Diet during pregnancy had up to 56% lower risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.
• Omega-3s are essential for overall female health and that supplementing omega-3s may help support healthy egg quality, delay ovarian aging, and improve pregnancy rates.
• Omega-3s improve baby’s eye and brain growth and early development.
• Healthy men who took fish oil supplements for 3 months+, have higher sperm count, a larger amount of normal sperm cells, healthier motility of individual sperm and higher free testosterone levels.
• Pregnant women who took 600mg of DHA during third trimester had children with larger total brain volume, total gray matter, corpus callosum and cortical volumes.
• Omega-3s in breast milk may improve brain function in infants