# Fertility and Infertility

Category: Conditions

Also known as: infertility, fertility, subfertility, conception

Thyroid hormone was recognized as the fundamental fertility hormone for both sexes by the 1940s, making infertility a standard sign of hypothyroidism. Peat argued that a TSH level even as high as 2.0 is associated with serious symptoms, and that correcting thyroid function…

11 passages · 3 authors · 1994–2025 · Most-cited: [Ray Peat](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/voices/ray-peat/index.md)

Canonical page: https://bioenergeticoracle.com/concepts/fertility-and-infertility

## Synthesis

**Thyroid hormone** was recognized as the fundamental fertility hormone for both sexes by the 1940s, making infertility a standard sign of hypothyroidism. [Source 1, 2] Peat argued that a TSH level even as high as 2.0 is associated with serious symptoms, and that correcting thyroid function, often alongside dietary improvements, has allowed women infertile for over a decade to conceive within weeks. [Source 1] He noted that **pregnenolone** alone was sufficient to greatly increase sperm quality, and that *polyunsaturated fats* interfere with both steroid production and thyroid function, acting as a major villain in male fertility. [Source 2] In his teaching, women regularly regained fertility simply through dietary changes that increased progesterone and thyroid while bringing estrogen under control. [Source 3]

The central hormonal dynamic in fertility is the balance between **progesterone** and **estrogen**. [Source 5] Progesterone increases oxygen availability, while estrogen lowers it, and a decreased ratio of progesterone to estrogen is characteristic of both normal menstruation and the heightened miscarriage risk seen around the ninth week of pregnancy. [Source 5] Peat explained that the onset of menopause corresponds to a failure to produce progesterone while estrogen remains at normal levels, creating a functional excess. [Source 7] He detailed how estrogen kills embryos at any stage of pregnancy and causes premature infertility by desensitizing and killing brain cells through an *excitotoxic* process, which progesterone and pregnenolone inhibit. [Source 7] Dinkov has observed that in women with unexplained infertility, the often-ignored estrogen **estrone** and **prolactin** are frequently elevated, even when estradiol is undetectable. [Source 6]

Beyond the primary sex steroids, a network of supportive factors is critical. Peat identified insufficient cholesterol, too much carotene, too little vitamin A, inadequate magnesium or sodium, and excessive **cortisol** as commonly overlooked causes of infertility. [Source 5] He traced the historical recognition of **vitamin E** as a fertility nutrient that protects against the oxidative damage caused by polyunsaturated fats and estrogen. [Source 4] Dinkov has extended this framework, citing studies where **vitamin D** improved ovarian reserves in infertile women more effectively and with less risk than megadosing DHEA, which can massively raise estrogen. [Source 11] He also described a case where a man with a clinically "normal" testosterone level of 350 ng/dL saw his fertility restored and testosterone rise after using *aspirin* and vitamin E, underscoring that standard lab ranges often miss profound metabolic dysfunction. [Source 8]

The bioenergetic state of the organism is the ultimate foundation of fertility. Dinkov has pointed to research showing that both **red light** exposure and **niacinamide** restore female fertility by increasing ATP production and lowering nitric oxide. [Source 9] Roddy and Dinkov have emphasized that low metabolic rate, often masked by stress hormones, is the core issue, and that fertility should be viewed as a barometer of systemic health rather than an isolated genital problem. [Source 8, 10] Emma Sgourakis noted that for many women with prior long-term oral contraceptive use, simply improving sleep, eating more food, and ceasing restrictive diets was sufficient to restore fertility, without any medical intervention ever having addressed these fundamentals. [Source 9] Peat maintained that because both parents contribute to reproduction, the health of both must be optimized, with thyroid, pregnenolone, and vitamin E being as crucial for male fertility as thyroid, progesterone, and vitamin E are for female fertility. [Source 5]

## People also ask

### How does thyroid function affect fertility in both sexes?

Peat argued that thyroid hormone is the fundamental fertility hormone for both men and women, with infertility being a standard sign of hypothyroidism, and that correcting thyroid function alongside dietary improvements allowed previously infertile women to conceive within weeks.

### Why is the progesterone-to-estrogen ratio important for maintaining pregnancy?

The corpus describes how progesterone increases oxygen availability while estrogen lowers it, and a decreased ratio of progesterone to estrogen is characteristic of both normal menstruation and the heightened miscarriage risk seen around the ninth week of pregnancy.

### What dietary or environmental factors can restore fertility by improving metabolic rate?

Dinkov pointed to research showing that red light exposure and niacinamide restore female fertility by increasing ATP production and lowering nitric oxide, while Emma Sgourakis noted that improving sleep, eating more food, and ceasing restrictive diets was sufficient to restore fertility in many women.

## Related concepts

- [Copper](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/copper/index.md)
- [Albumin](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/albumin/index.md)
- [Anemia](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/anemia/index.md)
- [Edema](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/edema/index.md)
- [Pregnenolone](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/pregnenolone/index.md)
- [Steroidogenesis](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/steroidogenesis/index.md)

## Cited passages

Passage numbers match the `[Source N]` markers in the synthesis above.

### Source 1 — One Radio Network: Ray Peat with Patrick Timpone — May 17, 2021

Ray Peat · Passage · May 17, 2021

> **Patrick Timpone:** Interesting. This is from Mary. She said, I know you can't give medical advice and it's tough to do this on a show, but would you mind just giving me some input? She went to the doctor. Everything was fine. The doctor said my levels are great, but I have cold hands and feet. and numb, and I'm also having a hard time getting pregnant. She's got a TSH of 2.5, T3 of 3.5, and a T4 of 1.39. Could Dr. Peat give me some advice of what I can do from here? Her doctor says everything's good.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah, it used to be recognized in the 1940s that thyroid hormone was the fertility hormone. The first hormone basic fertility hormone both for men and women supported by a progesterone but the thyroid is the basic thing and all of the signs of hypothyroidism cold hands and feet are basic infertility is just one of the standard hypothyroid signs and I've known People who hadn't been able to get pregnant for 10 or 15 years, within two or three weeks after correcting their thyroid problem and eating well, they were pregnant.
>
> **Patrick Timpone:** Wow. So with these numbers, she could maybe experiment with a little bit of thyroid and see if she feels better? Do you think these numbers warrant her doing that?

### Source 2 — Ray Peat Interview on Iron Toxicity, Estrogen, PUFA, Thyroid, and Stress Hormones

Ray Peat · Interview · Sep 15, 2025 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UmFIaFm2Mc

> **Caller:** Okay. That is what we needed to know. Thank you so much. It's a real privilege to be listening to you today, Dr. Peat. Thank you so much.
>
> **Josh Rubin:** Thanks for calling in.
>
> **Caller:** Thank you.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Good questions.
>
> **Josh Rubin:** I got a ton of questions, and this is kind of a general question, and if you don't want to answer, you don't have to. A lot of people want to know if you're familiar with Weston A. Price's work. Of course. And they want to know your thoughts on it. Oh, he saw that traditional diets produced good tooth development, generally, and bone development. So his work was... basically very good seeing that you can eat a lot of traditional diets and be healthy. Okay, that was simple. Another question is regarding fertility, but not female fertility. We're going to talk about the men. If someone has, let's say, low sperm count or quality, could you talk about maybe some reasons for that and what could they actually maybe change in their diet to actually help increase that or alleviate it?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Low thyroid is probably the main cause of both male and female infertility. And already in the 1940s, people saw that pregnenolone alone by itself was enough to greatly increase sperm quality. polyunsaturated fats, which interfere with the steroid production as well as thyroid function, are a major villain in male fertility. Interesting.

### Source 3 — #70: Life After Death?  |  Synchronicity  |  Sexual Insatiability  |  Deja Vu  |  Autoimmunity  |  Communism

Ray Peat · Interview · Sep 24, 2021

> ## Fertility and Hormones
>
> **Danny Roddy:** Marcelo asks: Have you ever seen or heard of a woman regaining her fertility taking high dose progesterone? Someone infertile for a decade or more.
>
> **Ray Peat:** When I was teaching nutrition classes, there were several women who said they had been infertile for more than 10 years. Usually, two or three people during that three-month class would suddenly get pregnant just with diet changes to increase progesterone and thyroid and get estrogen under control. One woman, a medical doctor, had diagnosed ovarian failure at 35. By carefully taking a blood test every week or two, she imitated the natural hormones of the cycle with small amounts of thyroid and progesterone. She had been infertile for over 10 years and had a baby very quickly as soon as she got her blood test showing the hormones in the right range.

### Source 4 — Nitric Oxide Nitrates Nitrites and Fluoride KMUD 2015

Ray Peat · Interview · 2015

> **Herb Doctor:** This month’s continuing subject are nitric oxide, nitrate, nitrates, and fluorides, all included into the food chain and decreasing fertility. Quite a few controversial subjects. Dr Peat, can you introduce yourself for those who have never heard of you?
>
> **Ray Peat:** From 1968 to 1972, I've studied biology, physiology, and biochemistry especially, at the University of Oregon for a PHD. Before that, i was in linguistics, literature, English and such. And since then, I've been writing newsletters and doing consulting.
>
> **Herb Doctor:** Your background is very much focused on the energetic state of the organism, required to thrive and survive. Your research work on hormones relates to fertility and mitochondrial energy production , which is key in understanding how disease happen. Most people haven't made these links between energy production and diseases.
>
> **Ray Peat:** I had been intending to study brain biology when i went to university, and the dogmatism in the nerve biology department made me look elsewhere. And I've found that reproductive physiology was an open, more scientific area. So, after I've finished my thesis on the aging of the reproductive system, i then went back and applied that information to how the brain works, and spent a year or two writing my book “Mind and tissue”.

### Source 5 — Generative Energy: Restoring the Wholeness of Life

Ray Peat · Book · 1994

> Male geneticists used to have a little spiel which "explained" why women were responsible for Down's syndrome, etc., but it actually explained nothing.) "Everyone knows" that old men can produce children far beyond the age at which women become infertile. Our culture honors old men who can reproduce, and so the claims of fatherhood at a great age are likely to be more numerous than the claims of mothers that they are very old. I knew a man in his 80s whose pretty wife of about 30 had a baby, but not everyone believed he was the father. However, when a woman has menopause at the age of 47, marries a 22 year old man when she is 52, and has children when she is 53 and 54 (Cachot, in Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. xxvi, page 394, 1883-4), there can't be the same sort of doubt. In the latter case, one could assume that a young husband optimized the couple's fertility. Since both parents are involved in reproduction, couples that want to have children must consider the health of both. Thyroid and pregnenolone and vitamin E are as important for male fertility as thyroid and progesterone and vitamin E are for female fertility. (For example, supplementary thyroid and pregnenolone can raise a man's sperm count, by overcoming the effects of stress.)
>
> #### The Mechanisms of Fertility
>
> Since it helps to have information from blood tests, physicians are often involved, and it is important that both the woman and her doctor be aware of what the other is trying to do. For example, the thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine (T3) is a key element in producing the energy needed for pregnancy to begin, but if there isn't enough cholesterol circulating in the blood, it will be impossible to synthesize enough progesterone (and other steroids). Too much carotene, too little vitamin A, not enough magnesium or sodium, and too much cortisol are commonly overlooked factors in infertility. It isn't uncommon for women to experience monthly periods several months into pregnancy; even when there isn't continued monthly bleeding, the cervical mucus test will often show that there is a cyclic monthly shift toward estrogen's dominance. These are times when the probability of a miscarriage is increased. The most common time for miscarriages is at the ninth week.

### Source 6 — #09: Estrogen, Fluoride, Pregnancy, Children, and Metabolism with Georgi Dinkov and Emma Sgourakis

Georgi Dinkov (with Georgi Dinkov) · Interview · Aug 23, 2019 · https://open.spotify.com/episode/3t0SPCgbBtB77LJdFi2jbP

> **Danny Roddy:** to be well I feel like talking to you guys you're some of like the only people in the world that I feel like we share similar experiences because if you come out in some capacity and you say I think this Ray Peat guy is onto something you're going to get a certain level of shit just like thrown your way no matter what basically and so Yeah, I'm sure we could talk all day about that.
>
> **Emma Sgourakis:** That's why we need each other.
>
> **Danny Roddy:** Yeah, I don't get
>
> **Georgi Dinkov:** that many of those from females with infertility problems, but the ones that I did get, I asked them to measure prolactin and estrone, and not all of them, but some of them did, and the ones that did, both came back elevated. So, and they were really surprised
>
> **Danny Roddy:** because when they approached the doctor, and I have a study actually,

### Source 7 — From PMS to Menopause: Female Hormones in Context

Ray Peat · Book · 1997

> **Ray Peat:** But if animals are given larger doses of estrogen during youth, those nerves atrophy prematurely, and they become prematurely infertile. The mechanism by which estrogen desensitizes and kills brain cells is now recognized as the "excitotoxic" process, in which the excitatory transmitter glutamic acid is allowed to exhaust the nerve cells. (This explains the older observations that glutamic acid, or aspartic acid, or aspartame, can cause brain damage and reproductive failure.) Cortisol also activates the excitotoxic system, in other brain cells, causing stress-induced atrophy of those cells.6 Progesterone and pregnenolone are recognized as inhibitors of this excitotoxic process. Besides estrogen's promotion of excitotoxic cell death, leading to the failure of the gonadotropin regulatory system, estrogen's stressmimicking action probably tends to increase the secretion of LH, in ways that can be corrected by supplementing progesterone and thyroid. Since Selye's work, it has been known that estrogen creates the same conditions as occur in the shock phase of the stress reaction. (And shock, in a potential vicious circle, can increase the level of estrogen7) It has recently been demonstrated that estrogen stimulates the adrenal glands, independently of the pituitary's ACTH. This can increase the production of adrenal androgens, leading to hirsutism, and other male traits, including anabolic effects.8 It was established in the 1950s that estrogen "erases" memories in well trained animals. I suppose that acute effect is related to the chronic toxicity that leads to cell death.

### Source 8 — Why Low Testosterone is Becoming an Epidemic w/ Georgi Dinkov | Rooted In Resilience Podcast #7

Georgi Dinkov · Interview · Apr 27, 2023 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JkKz4aFkdI

> **Ashley:** So I think it's important to consider that, you know, unlike mainstream medicine, which views every body part as a silo, you know, so I'm sure someone in mainstream medicine is going to say like, oh, there's just something wrong with your genitals. Like that's the reason why. But under the bioenergetic view, the body works as a system. And so the internal state of your body. impacts the hormone production and the hormone production impacts how the body runs as a system. So in your recommendation for someone who is just really in the wrong direction, so they are just extremely estrogen dominant, extremely stressed out, low fertility, are there any beneficial supplements that you would recommend in addition to obviously reducing your plastic exposure, cleaning up your diet, but are there any supplements that can help you get kick-started in the right direction?
>
> **Georgi Dinkov:** Yeah, but the caveat that if fertility improves and this person now manages to have a child, keep in mind that unless your health improves as well, you're not going to be a very good parent. I mean, things can deteriorate just as quick as they got better. So fixing the fertility, you should view fertility or low fertility in this case as a sign that something is really not well functioning in your life. which is driving down the metabolic rate. And in your case, or at least for now, the fertility is just the first symptom of these things going wrong, right? Down the road could be something else. You can get a heart attack, God forbid, or like a digestion problem or some other endocrine problem. So things need to change. But with that in mind, I mean, some very simple things. I've seen people who are completely, and there was a male infertility in this case. Basically, the doctor said, oh, your testosterone level is 350. By the way, the lower limit of almost 300. And to put this into perspective back to the studies in the 1970s, 800, which is now the upper limit of normal, was actually the average. So the doctor said, no, nothing's wrong with you. You're actually in range. So we're going to, you know, pump your wife full of clomiphene. We're going to try to do like artificial intrauterine insemination, I think they call it. So they, you know, get the sperm from the male, try to eliminate all the dead sperm, right, and remain only the viable ones, and then inject them into the woman and try to get her pregnant.

### Source 9 — #09: Estrogen, Fluoride, Pregnancy, Children, and Metabolism with Georgi Dinkov and Emma Sgourakis

Georgi Dinkov · Interview · Aug 23, 2019 · https://open.spotify.com/episode/3t0SPCgbBtB77LJdFi2jbP

> **Danny Roddy:** pieces of the puzzle, but they're all pointing in one direction, which to me is a strong indication that the underlying idea is correct. Emma, is a lot of your client base fertility issues? I mean, I'm sure that's something you've experienced, right?
>
> **Emma Sgourakis:** Yeah, without deliberately trying to make it about that. The majority female and then from that, yeah, more and more, you know, girls in their maybe 30s who'd been, most of them, you know, on the pill for 10, 15 years without a break. Suddenly they're married and they're like, oh, we're wanting a child but it's just not happening. Yeah, so it's definitely a big part of it.
>
> **Georgi Dinkov:** And a lot of people had been through several rounds
>
> **Emma Sgourakis:** of IVF and it didn't work, it didn't stick. But they'd never once been asked, you know, do you eat enough food? How's your sleep quality? How's your stress? Do you love your work? Nothing about any of that, of course. So it's, yeah, with some cases it's literally been a matter of just getting them to get better sleep, eat more food, sometimes not even a hell of a lot better than they had been eating, just getting more fuel in in general. um, not doing the diets they've been doing and then they feel pregnant. I know different reasons for their infertility, but that's, yeah.

### Source 10 — [3/4] The Male Pattern Baldness Myth - Nutrition and Diagnostics

Danny Roddy · Interview · Aug 3, 2015 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysn_lq2coPw

> **Speaker:** Now here we have got a child of about 14 years who has been brought to us with the complaint of swelling all over the body. He does not admit of constipation, but he says that he is very sensitive to cold. All the day long he doesn't come out of the quilt that he is in. When I saw his pulse, it was 68 per minute and that raised the suspicion of his being a hypothyroid. What here we see is, this is follicular hyperkeratosis. And when I elicit the ankle jerks, you can notice that there is a slow relaxation. the ankle jerk the muscles contract and they come back slowly let us see on the opposite side here as well what you notice is the muscle contracts and it comes back slowly this is what is known as slow relaxation of the ankle jerks and it is very characteristic of hypothyroidism
>
> **Danny Roddy:** thyroid hormone is responsible for converting beta carotene the inactive form of vitamin a into retinol the active form of vitamin a When the thyroid hormone is deficient, beta-carotene accumulates and manifests as orange palms and orange soles of the feet. Sometimes the effect is most noticeable in calluses. Perhaps most striking are the common facial characteristics of those with low thyroid. For instance, an adult woman with characteristic puffiness that often accompanies hypothyroidism. Her puffiness and her hair texture markedly improve after treatment with desiccated thyroid. Here is an adult man with an obese form of hypothyroidism. Note the striking resolution of his puffiness, myxedema, after treatment with desiccated thyroid. Myxedema is the medical term for hypothyroidism. Myx is the Greek word for mucin, which accumulates in hypothyroidism. Edema means swelling. And finally, here's another example of a resolution of puffiness or mixed edema following proper treatment of hypothyroidism with desiccated thyroid. And desiccated thyroid is from the glands of pigs, and it's a mixture of T4, T3, and T1 and T2, which are all thyroid hormones. So let's traverse to lab diagnostics, which can be useful in combination with self diagnostics. The first test we're going to talk about is thyroid stimulating hormone, or TSH. The pituitary hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, or TSH, is sometimes referred to as the gold standard in evaluating thyroid function.

### Source 11 — #63: Immunity | Vitamin D | Infertility | Vitamin E | Cardiolipin | PUFA | Aging with Georgi Dinkov

Georgi Dinkov · Interview · Jul 25, 2021 · https://open.spotify.com/episode/6TjpvSn72gMxH4RaTa41fB

> **Georgi Dinkov:** Okay. That thing that says vitamin improves ovarian reserves in women with fertility, it's a typo. It's actually vitamin D. I don't know if I've corrected it. I haven't corrected it on the blog. I need to correct it. There's a typo. But anyways, there were a few studies that came out recently about DHEA drastically improving fertility in women, especially women over 40 that have been having problems getting pregnant. And they don't know how it does that. I think the obvious explanation is, well, first, the blocks of DHA is a known anti-cortisol agent, right? When used in the proper dosages, DHA has been shown to raise progesterone levels in both men and women. And they're still struggling to explain the mechanism, but it's prometabolic and it's known to activate... the uptake of cholesterol inside of the cell, which usually leads to increased synthesis of steroids derived from cholesterol. But again, DHEA has risks, right? Unfortunately, the protocol used in women is still not approved for improving female fertility, but many fertility centers are aware of the research and they're prescribing it. The dosages used are in the 25 to 50 to 100 milligram range daily, depending on how severe the situation is. And at those absurd dosages, you're running a risk of actually causing more problems than solving because you'll clearly massively raise estrogen as well. So vitamin D doesn't have those risks, right? Well, of course, not if you ask the group that's hating on vitamin D. But if you're okay with using some vitamin D, I think you'll be less risky than megadosing DHEA. And that study demonstrated, because I compared the numbers between the DHEA studies and the vitamin D. And it had better results at a dosage of 50,000 units weekly, which is pretty conservative. That's the typically prescribed dosage for treating vitamin D deficiency.

_Generated 2026-07-20 from the Bioenergetic Oracle corpus._