By Sara Russell, Ph.D., FNTP

What does sugar have to do with fertility? If you are struggling with infertility or have a history of miscarriage, it’s a good idea to take an honest look at how much sugar you’re consuming. Sugar, along with refined starches that break down into sugars, impacts fertility in men and women. How does this happen? It dysregulates hormones, depletes nutrients and causes inflammation.

For the purposes of this post, “sugar” and “sugars” refer to refined sugars, natural sugars, refined starches and alcoholic beverages.

Sugar, insulin, and your fertility

Insulin is a storage hormone that causes glucose and other nutrients to enter the cells. When we chow down on sweet or starchy foods, the body responds by releasing large amounts of insulin. This reduces blood sugar. The liver processes any sugars beyond those necessary for immediate energy production into the storage form of glycogen.

Over time, the body’s cells become less and less responsive to the presence of insulin. This means that sugar is less and less able to move from the blood into the cells. Eventually, this leads to type II diabetes. Additionally, essential nutrients have a harder time entering insulin-resistant cells. As a result, the body starves for nutrients.

The consequences of blood sugar dysregulation include type II diabetes, PCOS and other conditions that can impact fertility. It can take years for blood sugar dysregulation to show up on a blood test, particularly if the doctor is not actively monitoring insulin levels along with glucose levels.

Adrenal hormones: sugar, stress and fertility

Our adrenal glands are two little walnut-sized glands on the top of the kidneys. They may be small, but they are workhorses! Among other important roles in the body, they are the first responders in any stressful situation. The body responds to sugar consumption the way it responds to any physical or emotional stressor. Every time we eat sugar, the adrenal glands go into emergency mode. Under stress, they release cortisol. Our bodies are equipped to deal with stress from time to time, but chronic stress and chronic cortisol production are not normal! Chronic cortisol production leads to chronic inflammation and excess belly fat. So love these little walnut-sized workhorses, and they’ll love you back!

You may be wondering how any of this connects to fertility. The adrenal glands produce sex hormones as well as stress hormones. Unfortunately, the body uses the same precursor, pregnenolone, both for stress hormones and for sex hormones. This means that the more stressors you experience – including sugar consumption – the fewer resources you have left to make the sex hormones that favor fertility and pregnancy.

Nutritional depletion

Sugary foods and drinks deplete the body of nutrients in three ways. First, they take up space on your plate and may even fill you up. However, they don’t provide nutrients. This is why we call them a source of empty calories.

Second, whenever we eat sugar, we have to process it and metabolize it in the body. This requires a massive amount of work in a number of organs, systems and pathways. All this work requires nutrients. Zinc, chromium, magnesium and thiamine (vitamin B1) are just a few of the numerous nutrients depleted in the process.

Third, when the cells become resistant to insulin, essential minerals have a much harder time entering the cells. In other words, sugar increases our need for nutrients but makes those nutrients less available!

Fertility and pregnancy are building processes that require lots of nutrients. Unfortunately, the over-consumption of sugars is one of the top enemies of fertility and pregnancy, not to mention overall health.

Is sugar addiction making you infertile?

Most people in the Western world are sugar addicts, even though they may not think of themselves that way. Study after study shows that sugar is highly addictive. Yet it remains a “normal” centerpiece of the modern diet, and we associate it with celebration and socialization. In people with yeast overgrowth in the gut, sugar consumption can lead to endogenous alcohol production and alcohol intoxication even in the absence of alcohol consumption, a condition called auto-brewery syndrome.

However socially acceptable sugar addiction is, we need to name it for what it is and recognize its effects. This piece by Dr. Mark Hyman goes into more detail on the dynamics.

Are you or your partner addicted to sugar and struggling to conceive a baby? I’ve worked with a number of couples who were able to conceive a baby only after addressing their sugar addiction.

So what can you do?

Are you ready to get pregnant but have a hard time imagining life without sugary foods? I created the Feed Your Fertile Body!™ Program to guide you through the transition from the Standard American Diet (SAD) to a nutrient-dense diet supportive of fertility and pregnancy. The second module focuses specifically on sugars, and there is great content throughout. See the program outline to learn more.