Preconception Planning:

Why Preparing for Pregnancy Makes Sense

In a time when a number of women and couples are delaying pregnancy to finish their education, establish their careers, and optimize their living circumstances, it makes sense from a Naturopathic perspective to also strive to ensure that they are as healthy as possible too. In so doing, couples are not only improving their ability to conceive and carry a pregnancy to term, they are also ensuring that their baby's health is the best that it can be.

Our environment, and the toxins that we are exposed to, can play a role in determining the ease with which we become pregnant, as well as the health of our babies – at birth and in their future. Research tells us that common household and commercial products expose us to toxins such as heavy metals, halides, PCBs, pesticides, herbicides and radiation – all of which have measureable effects on our own health, as well as the health of our future children.

For example, pesticides, plastics and organic solvents all act as "endocrine disruptors", interfering with the normal production and activity of human hormones. Exposure during pregnancy to any of these classes of chemicals can potentially disrupt the development of the reproductive tract of the male foetus. In fact, the blood levels of organochlorines in his mother at the time of conception are strongly related to a man's risk later in life of developing testicular cancer.

Bisphenol A (BPA), a commonly found toxin in household plastics, is known to bind to estrogen receptors in our bodies – altering our ability to manufacture some hormones. A recent study presented at the 64th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine showed that in a sample of 41 women undergoing IVF, 93% had measurable amounts of BPA in their blood, and a correlative decrease in fertility outcomes. Further, BPA is associated with recurrent miscarriages in women.

Organochlorines, including PCBs, DDT and DDE are now measureable in human breastmilk and municipal water supplies. These compounds are associated with insulin resistance, diabetes, obesity and infertility. Exposure of a developing embryo to these chemicals is known to affect foetal development.

Organic solvents, and exposure to them, are associated with increased time to pregnancy, but more alarmingly, they are also related to increased risk of miscarriage and a 13-fold increased risk of major foetal malformations.

This list of toxins, and their impact on fertility, foetal health, and the future health of a baby go on and on, and are well understood and documented by environmental scientists, geneticists and ecologists. So, how do we deal with the problem? Obviously, we can't live in fear, or in a glass bubble, waiting for our governments and policy makers to act on all the potential and probable sources of toxins in our local environments. Fortunately, there are a number of simple steps we can take each day to both mitigate our exposure, as well as decrease our body's burden.

Firstly – eliminating the use of plastic and Styrofoam to store and hold our food and beverages has a great impact. Not only do we decrease our direct exposure to endocrine disruptors like phthalates and BPA, but by choosing instead to use glass or metal reusable containers we decrease what we add to our landfills. Further, switching to organic cleaning products allows us to reduce our exposure to solvents and formaldehyde in our homes and offices.

Choosing organic foods and household goods not only decreases our exposure to harmful toxins like pesticides and herbicides, but also serves to decrease the burden of chemicals in our environment.

To target whatever toxins we may have already accumulated in our own bodies, regular sweating, lymphatic drainage and the maintenance of a healthy proportion of body fat are key. Sweating can mobilize a number of toxins out through our skin, and maintaining a healthy body composition helps to ensure that we don't accumulate too many fat soluble toxins. For those who are considering trying to conceive within the next year, consider spending time working with your naturopath to detoxify and prepare your body to optimize not only your fertility, but also the health of your future child.

For further reading about the impact of our environment on our health, as well as the health of our future children, consider the following resources:

"Our Stolen Future: Are we threatening our fertility, intellingence and survival?" by Dr. Theo Colborn et al.

"Having Faith: An ecologists journey to motherhood" by Sandra Steingraber.

"Slow Death by Rubber Duck" by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie