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How does Zonar help improve your fertility?

How does Zonar help improve your fertility?

Seems hard to believe, but more and more couples are confronted with a very delicate problem, which is fertility. If about 50 years ago nobody was complaining about the ability to have children, today, for many of us, it's a cruel reality. There are multiple causes, from lifestyle, increased stress levels, hormonal imbalance, a deffective diet, to waiting more and more until procreation, different dezeases, either chronic (like diabetes), STD's, or male/female reproductive diseases. Many times, infertility is caused by a mix of factors, and both partners need to take a long series of medical tests and treatments to fulfill their dream of having one or more children.

Studies are being made constantly to better understand the processes that happen before the fertilization phase, with the purpose to find new solutions and treatments for fertility problems.

Lactoferrin has a special role in the conception process

Especially in the primordial phase of pre-implantation. Moreover, the whey protein has proven itself to be of real use as a helping treatment against the ovarian hiperstimulation of women who take part in ovarian stimulation. Also, as we will see during this article, lactoferrin, through its antioxidant properties, has an important role in the process of spermatogenesis, while glutathione, the most important antioxidant in the body, has proven itself that it can help in the treatment of infertility in men.

What is the mechanism through which Lactoferrin and Glutathione help persons with fertility problems?

Lactoferrin is a glycoprotein which favors the transport of iron in the organism and has an anti-microbian, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect, and is present in the fluids secreted by the human body, like milk, tears, cervical mucus, seminal fluid and amniotic fluid. Studies on lab rats showed that lactoferrin has a very important role in the quality of oocytes and a unique paracrine role in the pre-implantation development phase. To test the physiological role of lactoferrin in the follicular liquid, a study has been accoplished on a sample of 34 women aged 25-34, who were amidst in-vitro fertilisation. It has been noticed that the oocytes, which had their follicular liquid at a raised level from the lactoferrin, had a significantly higher fertilisation rate, which led to better quality embryos.

In the case of men

Recent studies have proven the fact that oxidative stress is responsible for a large portion of male infertility problems. Oxygen-reactive species (ROS), like oxygen ions, free radicals and peroxides determine the apperance of infertility through two mechanisms. First of all, ROS deteriorate the membrane of sperm, which leads to the motility of sperm and the ability to fuse with the oocyte, and second of all, they degrade the DNA of sperm, compromising the genomic contribution of the father to the embryo. To counter the secondary effects of oxidative stress, it is needed to get the level of antioxidants, especially glutathione, to an optimal level. Unfortunately there are not many studies which investigate the effect of administering injectable glutathione upon men who suffer from infertility. One such study has been done in 1992 on a sample size of 11 infertile persons, who have been administered injectable glutathione. After analyzing the sperm samples taken before and after the treatment, it has been discovered that glutathione has a significant effect upon the motility of sperm.

In the antioxidation processes that occur on a cellular level, the spermatozoa use superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase as primary antioxidant enzymes. The presence of these antioxidants in the seminal plasma is very important, because it has an impact upon the methods used in the process of preparing the spermatozoa for in-vitro fertilization. Besides the two mentioned antioxidants, lactoferrin is added, which has an important role in the limiting the capacity of transition metals, especially iron and copper, of acessing the fatty acids in the plasmatic membrane of sperm. The limiting of transition metals is important, because it stops the chain reactions of lipid peroxidation. If this process takes place, it destroys the plasmatic membrane of sperm.

Regarding the existence of lactoferrin in the seminal liquid, a study in 2011 proved that a receptor of lactoferrin is present in the plasmatic membrane of sperm, by fusing glycosylphosphatidylinositol during spermatogenesis, hence being very probable that lactoferrin has a very imporant role in spermatogenesis.

Whey protein and its effect on ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome

While in the case of many affections the benefits of whey protein have been proven with multiple studies, regarding fertility and adjacent health problems, the studies are only at the start of the road, but the results are promising.

A study accomplished in october 2003 - september 2004 in Brazil showed that whey protein, which contains lactoferrin too, is a very good helper in the treatment of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), a frequently encountered problem in the process of assisted reproduction. The study has been conducted on a sample of 20 women who were under treatment for in-vitro fertilization, and had an increased risc of developing moderate or severe forms of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. 10 of the women received the conventional OHSS treatment, while the other 10, aside from the conventional treatment, received whey protein in oral capsule form (80 grams / day), starting from the day when the oocyte has been extracted. Despite the small sample size, the results are very encouraging. In the group that received the conventional treatment, 2 pacients developed a light form of OHSS, 7 suffered from a moderate form, and a single patient developed a severe form. From this group, 3 persons needed hospitalization. In whey protein group, nobody needed hospitalization, and out of the 10 pacients no one developed a severe form of OHSS, 5 developed an easy form of OHSS, and 2 a moderate form.

Despite the promising results from research up to this point, more studies are necessary to show us the complex role that lactoferring plays in the conception process, and moreover, studies with larger sample sizes are needed to prove the true utility of whey protein in the potentiation of fertility and remediation of diseases that cause infertility.

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