Thursday 17 September 2009

The WoW show

It's not too late to book for the Wellbeing of Women show this Saturday in Central London. There are a wide range of speakers on all aspects of women's health and fertility, and it promises to be a fascinating day. I'll be there on the Infertility Network UK stand so come and say hello!

You can find out all the details and information about how to book here

Tuesday 15 September 2009

Starving worms...

Well, I am not sure what it means for humans, but scientists in the States have apparently found that fasting can turn back the reproductive clock in worms!

A research team found that when adult worms were not given any food, they stopped ovulating and part of their reproductive system simply died off. When they were then given food again, the stem cells that had been left behind started producing new, fertile eggs. The old worms in the survey were able to produce healthy babies at a time when normally they would have been dead.

The researchers have made it very clear that there is no suggestion that going on a fast, or severely restricting calories, would lead to humans producing new eggs, but they hope that their findings might be used to help understand the mechanisms that control fertility. They are particularly interested to find out whether their research could have any relevance for women who are recovering from cancer treatments that can destroy the immature eggs in the ovaries might in fact be able to regain their fertility.

You can read more about the research here

Thursday 10 September 2009

New storage limit for frozen embryos

Many couples who have frozen embryos in storage will be delighted to learn that the government is set to extend the limit on the time they can be kept from five years to ten.

Often people are not ready to use all their frozen embryos within a timescale of five years, and changing the rules is a sensible and rather overdue move. Most women produce more eggs during an IVF cycle than they can use immediately, and freezing spare embryos allows another, less intrusive, treatment cycle at a later date. However, not everyone is able to use all their spare embryos within the time limits, and there can be little more distressing than having to allow them to be destroyed.

You can see a statement from the HFEA at www.hfea.gov.uk

Back again!

Apologies for the long silence - I've been away, and now I'm back. Watch this space for more news and views.