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#40 Preconception Vitamins Explained: Supporting Egg Quality, Sperm Health and Fertility
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The Bean Talk – Episode 40: Preconception Vitamins Explained: Supporting Egg Quality, Sperm Health and Fertility
In this solo episode, Riannon breaks down why preconception vitamins matter for both women and men, and how the right nutrients can support egg quality, sperm health, and overall fertility outcomes. She explains what to look for in a quality prenatal, why form and absorption matter, and the key nutrients that play a role in healthy conception and pregnancy.
Riannon also shares why preconception support should start before pregnancy, how nutrient stores impact early pregnancy and miscarriage risk, and why working with a fertility naturopath can make a significant difference.
Mentioned in this episode:
Connect with us on Instagram & TikTok @mungbean_health or visit mungbeanhealth.com for expert support.
Important note:
The information shared in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare practitioner before starting, changing, or stopping any supplements, medications, or health protocols to ensure they are appropriate for your individual needs.
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Transcript
Introduction to Fertility and Wellbeing
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to The Bean Talk with me, Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother, joined by my trusted partner in life and in the mission of Mungbean Health, Jeremy. Here at Mungbean Health, we're on a mission to unlock the secrets of fertility and natural wellbeing one episode at time.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hi guys, and welcome back to the Bean Talk. So excited to have you here. i am running solo today. This time of year is just absolutely insane. So really always trying to prioritize this where we can, but sometimes it means that we're only getting a bit of solo.
00:00:43
Speaker
And also it is going to storm here. So I'm hoping that you don't hear any of that in the background, but she's looking mean. It's been very hot and I feel like when the planet gets too hot, then it doesn't know how to handle itself. And you know, we get the big storms and everything like that.
Prenatal Vitamins and Pregnancy Nutrition
00:01:00
Speaker
So big bean and little bean for this week. Look, I've been very good at taking my prenatals. As you would know, if you follow our Instagram, I am currently pregnant and sitting at 24-ish weeks, which is crazy.
00:01:17
Speaker
fifth baby. So really, and obviously being a fertility naturopath, I definitely know how important it is to get these nutrients in and how many times my body has run this marathon already. So doing everything I can to support myself and not only myself, but my beautiful baby boy that is growing. So yes, I've been very good with my prenatal and my other vitamins.
00:01:42
Speaker
I've been doing some additional vitamin D and iron or just to top myself up to optimal. That's like a big one. I feel like I'm always very good at taking my supplements. But when you're very busy, especially this time of year, you know, I'm the same as you guys where sometimes it gets busy and it goes those gets pushed aside and i have to remind myself like, no, it's time.
00:02:06
Speaker
Get them into you. It's very important for your baby. and also the long-term health of your child and as they grow, which is everything to me. That's everything that I do and help with my clients and our clients at Mungbean, but also making sure that I am supporting my babies as well. So i feel like that is just being a huge thing for me. And it's actually something that I wanted to talk a little bit more about with you guys, which is more about natal vitamins and why they're so essential because I do see a lot online and actually I saw something this week about someone saying that prenatals are not important to take, which is crazy to me because it's very hard to get everything you can via diet. Near impossible, in my opinion, in this day and age with the way that people eat, because unfortunately people do opt for convenience, which I understand when you've got a busy life. But that doesn't mean that you're going to get a lot of beautiful nutrients. And unless you're growing your own fruits and vegetables and you know about the soil and how much vitamins and nutrients and everything that's in there, it makes it very hard.
00:03:11
Speaker
So let's just talk a little bit more about it. Clear some things up. Also, if you are on TikTok, make sure you follow us. We're mungbean underscore health, M-U-N-G-B-E-A-N underscore health. I do share a lot of different information than Instagram on there, but When, let's just start with the basics because when you're pregnant or trying to conceive and trying to become pregnant, your body definitely needs extra support. We like to think it's going from a regular car to a high performance car. You're growing a whole human.
00:03:45
Speaker
So it is, it shouldn't be taken lightly because this is the next generation that is truly within your hands.
Essential Nutrients for Pregnancy
00:03:53
Speaker
So here's what the main ingredients in a prenatal vitamin help with. folate, it is very important. It is critical in the early weeks, especially under 12 weeks, but it still has its positives post 12 weeks. There's lots of doctors out there that will recommend to stop taking any prenatal folate, folic acid post 12 weeks, which is crazy to me because again, back to diet, it's just not what it once was or what it's meant to be. This is very important for a healthy neural tube. or healthy neurotube development. It can help prevent birth defects in the brain and the spine as well. Iron, we all know for women in general, it is so important to have enough iron to support and help the increased blood volume that comes with being pregnant and reduce the risk of anemia for both you and your baby. And it's so funny, actually, I always think back to when learned that the baby will come out as low iron
00:04:52
Speaker
when the mum is low iron so if someone little girl little boy has low iron from the get-go it's usually because the mum was low in iron and it's not pointing the finger or making the mum feel bad it's education is poor around that and often the medical side of things they'll let you get very low in your iron because their reference ranges are very different before they do anything about it whereas really it should be a very important part of getting it to become optimal so very important calcium and vitamin d very important for strong bones and teeth you're obviously growing a skeleton and also maintaining your own and it actually helps babies to develop that healthy skeleton very important
00:05:34
Speaker
Omega-3 is one of my favorites, especially DHA once pregnant, crucial for baby's brain and eye development. And then we've got some other nutrients like B12, iodine, magnesium, choline.
00:05:48
Speaker
Honestly, the list goes on. We are complex beings and we need that extra support. Even with a nutrient-rich diet, many women still fall short of the levels needed for a healthy pregnancy. And we also need to consider some other things. So things like poor nutrient quality.
00:06:06
Speaker
We also need to consider low absorption from poor gut health, low access to certain types of foods or diets, misjudgment of a person's nutritional needs. That's where prenatal's Fill the gaps. It's a really easy way to fill the gaps. a bit like an insurance policy.
Men's Health and Fertility
00:06:27
Speaker
So do men actually need a prenatal? I love this question and get asked this a lot. So while women often carry the burden or the spotlight when it comes to fertility and pregnancy preparation, men's health matters just as much.
00:06:45
Speaker
A man's nutrient status can affect so many things, especially obviously their own sperm quality and count, DNA integrity, our sperm parameters, motility, how well the sperm actually swims, and even outcomes in early embryo development. Not to mention over 50% of infertility is due to male factor. So really important. Poor sperm health, which is preconception care 101, is linked to miscarriage, recurrent miscarriage.
00:07:18
Speaker
even preterm birth weight and preterm birth. Not good when the man should be doing a lot or whoever's bringing the sperm. So key nutrients like zinc, selenium, vitamin C is another one, vitamin E, coenzyme Q10 and omega-3s as well all play a huge role in supporting healthy sperm and um reducing oxidative stress. The way i always like to think about it is like that male sperm is carrying a lot of DNA, which needs to pass it onto the egg. and dump it into the egg, it's really important that that is A1 quality because that is what's going to get passed on. So if you're on a conception journey as a couple, it's really a two-person game, not a one-person game. A man's prenatal or fertility-focused supplement can help optimize those chances. And again, and naturopath can help here too. So Naturopathy is amazing here because we can use beautiful herbs and also nutrients that are not only going to support the baby making process, but it's also going to support the health of the male.
00:08:25
Speaker
So really important for energy and stress and sleep and all those things, gut health, which is all going to be passed down to Bob as well from a DNA perspective. So unfortunately, not all supplements are made equal, which if I had a dollar for every time, I had to talk about this.
Quality of Supplements and Professional Guidance
00:08:44
Speaker
If you're going into the supermarket and buying supplements, they're never going to be as good as what a naturopath is going to prescribe from absorption, quality, how you absorb the quality, the the dosage as well, and how important it is that you're taking stuff that isn't just giving you expensive urines.
00:09:04
Speaker
So some of these over-the-counter brands that use, they use like synthetic versions of nutrients that your body might not absorb very well. Others are missing key nutrients entirely. or using fillers and additives so you don't want these in your body. Why do you need them? You don't, especially while you're pregnant or trying to conceive because we're trying to minimize rubbish. So if you ever see folic acid on the label and think that's great, well, unfortunately it's not great for everybody. Some women, especially those with an MTHFR gene, can't properly metabolize the synthetic folate or folic acid and need to be taking an active form
00:09:47
Speaker
of methylfolate. So we're not saying everyone gets up on their bandwagon, oh, you shouldn't be saying this, you shouldn't be talking about folic acid. We're not saying don't take folate.
00:09:57
Speaker
We're not saying don't take the form that's very important and can work with your body. We're saying use the best form for you and Bob, especially if you know you have an MTHFR gene variant, then you need to be taking the correct form.
00:10:10
Speaker
so This is where a naturopath comes in and can guide you in these ways. Certain nutrients will compete for absorption as well in the body. So working with a naturopath really does ensure you are taking the right supplements at the right times that your body needs and at a beneficial dose as well, because a lot of the supplements that you'll get in the pharmacy or the chemist or the supermarket, they're very low dose because they need to just be available for anyone to take safely. So they'll be very low dose. So they're usually not going to do a lot for you except for give you expensive urine, which to me, that is a total waste of money.
Preconception Care and Naturopathic Benefits
00:10:47
Speaker
We actually recommend starting your prenatals or prenatal vitamins at least three months before trying to conceive to ensure your nutritional needs are supported. And it gives you a nice sort of cushion early, especially when the nausea kicks in and you struggle to take supplements. And that's a big thing that I see with a lot of my clients and I've experienced myself is that if you don't do the pre-work and then you're like, oh, just wait till I fall pregnant,
00:11:14
Speaker
You can be nauseous. You could unfortunately experience something like hg where you can't keep anything down, even food. And you might think, oh, I'm going to eat the healthiest I've ever eaten in my pregnancy.
00:11:25
Speaker
Love it. Amazing. Do your absolute best. But sometimes in that first trimester, it will be survival, especially with someone with HG. So if you've done the pre-work, you've already lifted up so many of these nutrient statuses. Maybe they'll reduce a little bit because you've been vomiting 12 times a day and not able to eat anything other than salty chips.
00:11:45
Speaker
But you're so much better off then starting here and getting lower. You're better off starting up here and then lowering a bit. And then second trimester, hopefully you feel a bit better. We can lift it up again. So I'm always going to recommend to see a practitioner, a naturopath, specifically a fertility naturopath like us at Mungmean Health before you start trying to conceive for both you and your partner. This is equally important, especially to minimize risk factors, pregnancy complications, issues like loss, miscarriage, all these horrible things you don't want to experience. Even for a lot of my HG mamas, although it's not a guarantee that you won't get it again with a second pregnancy, I've seen so many women not do naturopathic care the first time around and have a horrible time reach out to us. We actually support them before they fall pregnant again, support them through their pregnancy and they have a much better journey the second time around with naturopathic support. So if you are looking to conceive, definitely look at booking an appointment, booking with one of our amazing practitioners.
Mungbean Health Services Promotion
00:12:52
Speaker
You can find us at www.mungbeanhealth.com or you can reach out on Instagram. We are at mungbeanhealth.
00:13:02
Speaker
underscore health, M-U-N-G-B-E-A-N underscore health. And the same as on TikTok, you can reach out. We would love to support you. I'll also link below on our website. You can have a look at one of our preconception supplementation packs.
00:13:18
Speaker
Amazing for women's preconception bundle, but also men. I'm going to link it below in the show notes so you can check it out on our website. This is for someone who might be overseas that we can't treat. or if you're just getting ready to start and you're not able to book an appointment just yet, this would be a place for you to start. So please check it out and tune into our next episode where we'll be diving into all things trimester one, which if you've been lucky enough and blessed to get through a first trimester, you'll know that a lot of the time for a lot of people, it is not for the faint hearted, but obviously so special and amazing in every single way.
00:14:00
Speaker
Although some women really struggle and do not enjoy pregnancy, I'm sure that they can all agree that at the end when they have their beautiful bundle, they'd do it all again if they had to. So thank you so much. I really appreciate you guys for listening. Reach out if you need me and I can't wait to share the next episode with you.
00:14:19
Speaker
Bye.
00:14:25
Speaker
And that's a wrap on today's dose of wellness. I'm Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother. Thank you for joining us. Stay connected with us on Instagram at mungbin underscore health.