PHOTOGRAPHY��JILL�GREENBERG/GALLERYSTOCK�COM
removed slithers, stitched them together
then transplanted them back into Amy.
In June, her periods resumed naturally
and in October, she fell pregnant. Her
son was born in June 2009.
One day, it may be possible to
remove a sliver of ovary through
keyhole surgery, freeze it and
transplant back at a later date with its
thousands of potential eggs still intact.
Stuart Lavery, director of IVF at
Hammersmith Hospital, is offering the
service to certain cancer patients.
MODERN�MIRACLE
And if intrusive medical procedures
seem a little premature, there are
certainly things you can do to buy
yourself time starting today. Keep your
BMI between 20 and 25. Fat and
cholesterol are the basic building
blocks for reproductive hormones. Too
much and too little fat results in an
in-balance that can disrupt ovulation.
Don’t smoke. “The single most
important thing a woman can do to
preserve her reproductive lifespan is
to not smoke,” says Dr Lockwood.
“YEAH I KNOW. IT. I GOT IT
GOING ON PET”
“If you’re a lifelong smoker, your
ovaries are three years older than your
birth certificate.” You should also
reduce stress in your life wherever
possible. When you’re stressed, your
body is struck by a rush of cortisol. The
flood of this hormone disrupts the
fragile hormone balance in your body
and reduces the amount of oestrogen
and progesterone being produced,
both of which are crucial to fertility.
And just upping your water intake
can buy you a little time. According to
Nicola Berman, founder of The Fertility
MOT (junonaturalfertility.com), “Water
is critical for your body to function. If
you don’t have enough your body will
shut down non-crucial bodily functions,
such as your reproductive system, in
order to reduce body stress.” Alcohol
is another no-no as statistically
teetotallers conceive faster and have
a lower miscarriage rate.
IT’S�A�FAMILY�AFFAIR
Another thing you can do is a little
digging into your family history. If your
mother had her menopause a few
“THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING
A WOMEN CAN DO TO PROTECT HER
REPRODUCTIVE LIFE IS NOT SMOKE”
years early – let’s say, 45 – then it’s
quite likely you’ll follow suit. And in the
10 years leading up to that – during the
so-called ‘perimenopause’ when your
periods stop – it’s extremely hard to
become pregnant naturally. “There’s a
strong genetic link,” says Dr Lockwood.
“So it’s important for young women to
ask their mothers when they started
their menopause. The average age for
a Caucasian woman in western Europe
is about 51, but a significant proportion
will have the menopause at 45. In the
10 years leading up to the menopause,
your ovarian reserve is so depleted, it’s
very difficult to get pregnant.”
There are other clues to look for.
Did your mother have a hysterectomy
(once a common way of treating
endometriosis or fibroids, both of
which reduce your fertile period)?
Painful periods can point towards the
aforementioned disorders.
However, the future holds some
exciting possibilities. Augmented
reality and virtual shopping malls aren’t
the only things we have to look forward
to: in a matter of years you will be able
to control your clock, rather than it
control you. In fact, a team at Stanford
University in California has claimed
they are five years from producing
both artificial eggs and sperm from
stem cells. (Perhaps, in another
lifetime, this will become an alternative
means of reproduction, though at
present they are highly genetically
modified and deemed unsafe and
unethical to turn into embryos.)
Another exciting discovery is the
hope that we’re not far from introducing
a simple test which can predict, to within
four months, exactly when we’ll start the
menopause. Iranian scientists have
discovered that by measuring the
concentrations of a hormone that is
produced by cells in the ovaries they
can predict when a woman as young as
20 will reach the menopause. Although
this discovery needs further testing, it
could pinpoint when a woman’s fertility
will begin to fall.
Further into the future there are
signs that we might be able to stop the
clock from ticking at all. And the answer
lies in holding on to our eggs to stop
them from deteriorating and dying off.
At Harvard Medical School, researchers
have already bred mice that can carry
on making eggs right on into old age.
These mice lacked a gene called ‘Bax’
– the question is whether there’s a safe
way to target the same gene in humans.
It is possible – though not easy – to
beat the clock. Right now, the odds are
stacked against you (16.7% for a frozen
egg transfer isn’t ideal). However, the
world of science is advancing and
by the time our potential children
reach our age, motherhood could
well be something on their to-do
list for 20 years’ time.
FERTILITY
HOW�
FERTILE�ARE�
YOU�RIGHT�
NOW?
Most NHS and private
fertility clinics offer the
following tests to give
a picture of your
reproductive health. Ask
your GP to refer you
X The AMH (Anti-
Müllerian Hormone)
technique is a blood test
which measures a hormone
produced by ‘good’ quality
follicles. A low score
suggests a low reserve.
X The FSH/LH blood test,
(usually taken with the
AMH, above) measures the
Follicle Stimulating
Hormone and Luteinizing
Hormone and their ratio to
one another. If your FSH
level is higher than your
LH level, it suggests poor
ovarian reserve.
X An ovarian ultrasound
and antral follicle count
– using an ultrasound, a
IS IT TIME TO HAVE
YOUR FERTILITY
LEVELS ASSESSED?
doctor counts the number
of antral follicles to predict
your ovarian reserve.
X If you want to avoid the
clinics, fertility guru Zita
West has just launched
an online fertility MOT
(which includes an AMH
measurement). Order the
kit and questionnaire,
follow the instructions
then post them back. You
will then be talked through
the results in a detailed
telephone consultation
(zitawest.com).
WWW�STYLIST�CO�UK����
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