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The inner aisles of supermarkets are chock-full of foods that claim to make you healthier. Brightly colored food labels proclaim "sugar-free," "low-calorie," and "natural," waiting in hopes you'll snag the nearest food package and begin snacking. These foods may appear beneficial at best and harmless at worst, but are they? Let's unravel some of the deceptive food labels that may be misleading you.

Food companies use cleverly crafted words and phrases to market their products in the hopes of swaying your buying decisions. Eye-catching package designs with wisely-worded descriptions envelop food products that may not live up to their food-wrapper hype.

Companies are required to meet minimum governmental standards for product packaging and quality, and many times, the minimum is what you get. Misleading food labels are prevalent in supermarkets, so it is your responsibility to sift through the bad to get to the good. We've comprised a list of more than a dozen deceptive food label terms that aren't really what they seem, to help you do just that.

And what about the ingredients? Reading the ingredient list on food packaging is more important that just glancing at the front label. As a rule of thumb, read the first three ingredients on the list. These three ingredients make up the majority of what you're consuming. If the ingredient list is longer than two to three lines, you can bet that the product is vastly processed. Seek out ingredients such as whole grains and other whole foods for a healthier option.

For more, don't miss 6 Toxic Food Ingredients That Have Been Linked to Cancer.

Nutrition fact labels list carbohydrates as dietary fiber, total sugars, and sugar alcohols. These carbs provide energy in calorie form for the body. According to the FDA, the daily recommended value for carbohydrates is 275 grams, but many people choose to limit carbs for weight loss. "Low-carb" labels on foods entice dieters, but is the product really "low-carb?" Don't allow yourself to be fooled by these labels. The FDA doesn't have guidelines for "low-carb" or "keto" food labeling.

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A "gluten-free" label is a voluntary addition by food companies, which could pose a problem for those with celiac disease. In 2013, the Food & Drug Administration finalized the definition of the term "gluten-free" for food labeling. They concluded that foods that contain 20 ppm (parts per million) of gluten or more can not be considered gluten-free. However, this guideline means that products containing traces of gluten up to this amount can be labeled "gluten-free." Individuals with celiac disease may find this concerning.

Here are the 6 Best Gluten-Free Flour Alternatives, According to Dietitians.

"Light" food products are usually highly processed to lessen or eliminate calories and fat. Food additives are used to enhance flavor during processing, so read the ingredient list carefully. Additives may tack on excess sugar or calories to "light" foods.

Foods labeled as "natural" may be one of the trickiest yet. This term does not necessarily indicate that the food item is natural. According to the USDA, foods labeled as "natural" must be minimally processed and may not contain any artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors.

When it comes to meat, for example, the "natural" label doesn't indicate whether the animal was raised with antibiotics or hormones. Other foods labeled "natural" are often misinterpreted as containing no artificial ingredients. Sadly, the opposite is often true.

"Organic" is another one of those feel-good food labels, but it does not indicate that the food you're eating is more nutritious. The FDA has set up strict guidelines for organic food labeling, and products bearing this label must be "produced using agricultural production practices that foster resource cycling, promote ecological balance, maintain and improve soil and water quality, minimize the use of synthetic materials, and conserve biodiversity." For example, there are only a few pesticides and fertilizers that are permitted for use in organic foods.

So while "organic" food has been less exposed to pesticides and antibiotics, it isn't necessarily better quality.

Read about the Surprising Effects of Eating Organic Produce, Says Science.

Low-calorie food items made by one company may contain just as many calories as their competitor's regular version of the same item. "Low-calorie" products must have one-third fewer calories (40 calories or less) per serving than the brand's original productwhich tells you nothing about how they rank in the overall product category.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Find out about the 12 Best Low-Calorie Starbucks Drinks, According to a Dietitian.

High fructose corn syrup contains roughly the same calories as sugar and has similar health risks. Often, when a product is labeled as having no high fructose corn syrup, other sweeteners are added to compensate for the taste. According to the American Heart Association, added sugars should be limited to six and nine teaspoons per day for women and men, respectively.

Did you know that "no added sugar" doesn't mean that the food is healthy or sugar-free? This term simply means that the product isn't processed with any sugar or sugar-containing ingredients. The label does not, however, account for sugar alcohol or artificial sweeteners, so make sure you inspect the food label carefully.

The FDA has strict guidelines that govern foods labeled "low-fat." For instance, the product must contain three grams or less of fat per 100 grams, and have 30% or less of its calories come from fat. However, sugar is often added to low-fat foods.

Fruit flavoring such as strawberry, cherry, orange, and lime are often created artificially to imitate natural fruit flavors. Artificial coloring, such as Red #40, Blue #1, and Yellow #6, often accompany these fruit-flavored foods. Food coloring (Red #40 and Yellow #5) has been linked to hyperactivity and behavioral problems in children sensitive to these food dyes. So, avoiding these artificial flavorings may be beneficial to some people.

"Cholesterol-free" doesn't mean that the food item doesn't contain cholesterol. The FDA states that foods with this label must not contain more than two milligrams of cholesterol per serving. If the food's per-serving fat content for main dishes exceeds 19.5 grams or 26 grams for meal products, the total amount of fat per serving must be labeled beside the "cholesterol-free" claim. Keep in mind that not all cholesterol is bad. HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) can lower your risk for stroke and heart disease by carrying cholesterol to the liver.

Here are the Best Breakfast Habits to Lower Cholesterol.

Foods labeled "sugar-free" may be packed with fat and other fillers to compensate for lost flavor or texture when sugar is removed. Sugar-free foods must contain less than half of a gram of sugar per serving. So, that "sugar-free" candy bar may contain trace amounts of sugar.

Companies use the "no hormones" label on dairy products to indicate that they do not contain synthetic hormones. However, a disclaimer must be present if they use that label, and this disclaimer must state that the FDA recognizes no difference between dairy containing growth hormones and dairy that doesn't.

Hormone-free labels on poultry, bison, and veal are not necessary because the FDA prohibits the use of hormones in rearing these animals. Instead, a disclaimer is required by the USDA stating that there are no hormones approved for use in these meats by federal regulations.

"Cage-free" means that the chickens were raised without the use of cages. Other living conditions are unknown, so your cage-free eggs may come from birds raised in overcrowded factory farms or other overly-populated conditions.

"Grass-fed" food labels indicate that the animal's nourishment came from vegetation rather than corn. This label doesn't tell whether the living conditions were humane or sanitary or whether hormones or antibiotics were used.

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15 Most Deceptive Food Label Terms That Are Fooling You Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Its creamy, melty, gooey, and 100-percent addictive. Were talking about vegan cheese. As little as five years ago, one would be stretching the truth to describe most vegan cheeses in this fashion. Unfortunately, many brands mass-produced their versions of dairy-free cheeses before the products were ready, souring the food categorys reputation in the minds of vegans and skeptics alike. Over the years, recipes have been reformulated, refined, and at times completely reinventedmaking amends for the somewhat rubbery, bland, and generally off-putting product that was vegan cheese of yesteryear. On the whole, vegan cheese is now something to be celebrated. Here is the 411 of vegan cheesefrom how its made to the very best brands.

The short answer is: there are a lot of glaring issues with dairy-based cheese, both in terms of ones health and the environment. Theres also the looming problem of repeatedly impregnating nearly 10 million dairy cows, taking away their babies within 48 hours of birth, and cutting their lives short by 10-15 years. But beyond that, lets talk about health. Cheese is coagulated breast milk. While this breast milk can be taken from a number of animalssheep, goat, camel, etc.the vast majority of cheese consumed in America comes from cows. Cows breast milk contains 15 different female sex hormones including estrogen, progesterone, and cortisolall of which are transferred to the human body upon consumption and react with that bodys hormones in a negative way. These excess bovine hormones can knock the bodys hormones off-balance, which may explain why milk and other dairy-based foods are so often linked to hormone-dependent cancers such as breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer, according to Dr. Neal Barnard and a mounting body of scientific evidence. IGF-1, a growth hormone also found in dairy milk, is also known to trigger excess cell growth and set the stage for cancer.

Dairy cheese is also extremely high in harmful fats. As a form of concentrated milk, the levels of saturated and trans fats found in dairy are magnified with each bite. In the US, cheese is the largest source of saturated fat intake in American diets according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey published in the Nutrition Journal. Both saturated and trans fats present health issuesnot only in terms of unhealthy weight gain, but in regards to cardiovascular health. Excess fats can quickly build up inside arterial walls and either slow or completely impede blood flow, triggering a heart attack or stroke. Decreased blood flow may also have other ramifications, as the body is not able to deliver oxygen and nutrients as efficiently to cells as possible. At the very least, this can cause sluggishness and less-than-optimal bodily function.

For those less concerned with their health but identify as sustainability-minded, dairy cheese is still not a greenlight food. Cheese is an extremely inefficient and resource-intensive product. It takes approximately 10 pounds of milk to make one potent little pound of cheese. On an individual serving level, one cup of milk is roughly equivalent to a single slice of processed cheese or 1.5 ounces of natural cheese. The toll of cheese production on the environment is significant. For a bit of perspective, eating four ounces of cheese contributes the same amount of carbon emissions as driving 3.5 miles. Alternatively, eating just 60 percent less cheese and replacing that with four to six servings of beans could help keep the global temperature from rising more than two degrees Celsius by 2050. In a nutshell, the environmental impact of dairy is a compound reflection of the devastation of the dairy industry, which can be found in our article, Is Milk Bad for You?. Cows milk is bad, but cheese is certainly worse.

Miyokos Creamery

The ingredients of vegan cheese largely depend on the style of cheesedifferent foods lend themselves to different flavors and applications. Starting from the top down, gourmet or artisanal-labeled vegan cheeses are traditionally made with a blend of cashews, oil, plant-based cultures, and spices. The cashews provide the creaminess of a soft cheese (think brie, feta, mozzarella, and chevere) while the cultures add the funkthat addictive characteristic that makes cheese so impossible to resist. While not listed on the ingredient label, time is another essential component of most artisan vegan cheeses. Those cultures need time to ferment and get funky.

Every day cheesesthose that come in shreds and slicestend to include oils, starches, nut milk or water, lactic acid (vegan), and natural flavorings or spices. The ingredients for these processed options vary widely from brand to brand and are generally more extensive than artisan vegan cheeses. The key in producing the perfect solid texture that will also melt is nailing the balance between starch and oil content. While not a whole foods approach, these ingredients get the job done.

Treeline Cheese

Like dairy-based cheese, vegan cheese should be enjoyed in moderation for those looking to optimize their health. It certainly has a place in ones diet, but it probably shouldnt have a place in every meal of the day. Of course, vegan cheese nutrition depends on the brand. A single serving of gourmet vegan cheese (30 grams) contains about 120-130 calories, 11 grams of fat, three grams of protein, five grams of carbs, and one gram of fiber. Non-dairy shreds and slices tend to be a bit lower in fat and calories due to the fact that theyre more starch-based and less nut-based. Most vegan cheese shreds clock in at a ballpark 70-100 calories, seven grams of fat, one gram of protein, and no fiber. These more processed cheeses also tend to be higher in sodium, though it ranges significantly from brand to brand. Vegan cheese is high in fat (its necessary to replicate that unctuous, creamy mouthfeel of dairy cheese), but its free of heart disease-inducing trans fat and cholesterol. Its also free of bovine hormones, IGF-1, and foreign, inflammation-triggering compounds such as Neu5gc and D-galactose. Is vegan cheese healthier than dairy cheese? Yes. Definitely yes. Is vegan cheese a health food? We wouldnt go that far. Enjoy your cheese board at parties and indulge in a crispy, gooey, buttery grilled cheese by all means, but perhaps not every day.

So Delicious

If you are craving cheesy flavor on the regular, there are plenty of homemade options that happen to be a bit less caloric and fat-laden. Cheeses made with vegetables such as butternut squash, carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes provide an ample amount of micronutrients and antioxidants without adding harmful fats or excess calories to your diet. These cheeses are made by blending cooked veggies (or tofu!) with broth, nutritional yeast, spices, and cornstarch. The smooth mixture is then heated on the stove which activates the starch and turns the silky concoction into a stretchy, gooey, consistency perfect for pasta or nachos. Check out these 5 Easy Nut-Free Cheese Recipes to try this method at home tonight.

To make next-level, cheeseboard-worthy cheese, one has to take a tip from the cheesemongers. The process of aging and fermentation isnt just for cows milkthis practice works with plant-based milks, too. Vegan cheese making is a science, and many brands have nailed it. All cheese begins as a liquid. A plant-milk is made from soaked and strained nuts (typically cashews) then blended with coconut oil, spices and flavoring agents, and vegan live cultures. The mixture is then placed into a mold, dehydrated, and aged in a cool space for days, even months. The informative cookbook This Cheese Is Nuts! is a solid resource for those interested in making their own vegan cheese at home.

Theres good vegan cheese but there is also great vegan cheese. The kind that will make your eyes roll back. The kind that will get your skeptical friends to finally admit vegan food actually tastes good. Whether youre looking for a stretchy cheese that truly melts for supremely good quesadillas, molten queso to smother over nachos, or a sophisticated cheese wheel that will make your party the talk of your friend group, theres a vegan cheese for that. Heres what to nab the next time youre at the grocery store (or shopping online).

Field Roast

For a neutral-tasting cheese that goes with almost everything, check out Chaos Creamy Original in block or slice form. While mild on its own, this white cheese adds that creamy element and a touch of funk to sandwiches, salads, and flatbreads. The Chao brand falls under Field Roastthe makers of some of our favorite vegan sausages and buffalo wingsso you can be confident in the quality.

Follow Your Heart

This 50-year-old company makes more than just Vegenaise, and it does it well. The shreds, slices, and blocks are terrific as-is or melted on a beefy vegan patty, gooey grilled cheese, or luscious pasta sauce. The variety is extensivefrom feta crumbles to smoked gouda slices. We encourage you to try them all and find your favorite. Oh, and pro tip for that grilled cheese: spread a thin layer of Vegenaise on the outside of each bread slice for the crispiest, melt-in-your-mouth bite of sandwich youve ever eaten.

Kite Hill

The search for the best vegan cream cheese ends with Kite Hill. The almond milk-based vegan cheese company makes a perfect replica of thick, New York-style cream cheese that wont weigh you down. Kite Hills ricotta (and ricotta-filled pasta) are also products to check out if youre in the mood for gourmet Italian.

Loca

We wouldnt be surprised if we found this crave-worthy vegan queso in stadiums one day. Its thick, a little salty, and perfectly spicy. Surprisingly, its made with ingredients everyone can pronounce such as potatoes, carrots, jalapeos, nutritional yeast, and spices. Heat up and drown a pile of tortilla chips with it. Finger-licking is unavoidable.

Mishas Kind Foods

These cheese spreads are Jay-Z-approved. The entertainer invested in this Black-owned brand, along with NBA hotshot Chris Paul. Sold in tubs, each of the eight flavors add texture and taste to sandwiches, avocado toast, bagels, and flatbreads. Fan favorites include the caper-infused Lox and umami-laden Black Truffle.

Miyokos Creamery

Launched in 2012, this vegan cheese company may not have been the first non-dairy cheese on the market, but it is still a pioneer in its own right. Miyokos mozzarella and gourmet cheese wheels were the first vegan cheese options to really turn heads and reach mass distribution. For many, Miyokos is the gateway cheese. The brand has expanded into slices, shreds, spreads, blocks, cream cheese, and even kids cheese sticks, but the wheels are where it truly shines. Popular flavors include the Smoked English Farmhouse, Winter Truffle, and Garlic Herb.

So Delicious

So Delicious seems to do it allincluding vegan cheese. The behemoth of a company has dozens of products to its name, but the dairy-free shreds are particularly worth noting. Best in melted form, the Mexican-style Shreds are ideal for burritos, enchiladas, and nachos, but theyre good enough to enjoy as-is on top of a taco salad.

SriMu

If special occasion cheese is a thing, SriMu is most certainly it. This small-batch, artisan cheese is not cheap, but each carefully crafted variety packs an overwhelming punch of flavor in each un-brie-lievably luxurious mouthful. If youre looking for a distinctive vegan bleu cheese or impressive, truffle-infused camembert, check out this brand. Pro tip: the cheese subscription makes for a surprisingly unique gift for any cheese obsessive.

Violife

A popular and widely available brand in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and throughout Europe, Greece-based Violife comes in shreds, slices, blocks, and more, impressing people with the flavor and meltability. The next time youre craving some comfort food, try the Colby Jack Shreds on homemade nachos with the works.

Daiya

Daiya is one of the early influencers of the vegan cheese movement. Founded in 2008, the brand now offers a wide variety of dairy-free items including shreds, blocks, slices, and a plethora of frozen convenience foods. Its new Cutting Board Collection is a step above both in taste and texture. Weve been using the Mexican 4 Cheeze Style Blend in quesadillasthe meltability is unmatched.

Love and Lemons

Who would have guessed that by 2022, Trader Joes would have its own range of vegan cheeses? The grocer carries its own brand of non-dairy slices and shreds along with popular brands such as vegan Boursin and Miyokos. Finally, TJs can be a one-stop shop.

Parmela Creamery

Parmela uses the classic cheesemaking processes to transform cashews into cultured vegan cheeses with just the right amount of funk. Try melting the Sharp Cheddar slices on a plant-based patty or layering them on a thick vegan cold cut sandwich.

Good Planet

Offering a variety of familiar flavors, GOOD PLANeT delivers dairy-free slices, shreds, and wedges that are all soy-free. The wedges are the latest innovation and remind us of the snackable BabyBel cheeses of our pre-vegan days.

Forager Project

While Forager has been around for years, it just recently stepped into the vegan cheese category. In lieu of shreds or slices, this vegan brand went after a rarer cheese productqueso fresco. While the product looks a bit like pellets in the bag, it melts adequately and adds that gooey, cheesy texture to enchiladas and chiles Rellenos.

Treeline

Based on European cheese-making traditions, Treelines nut-based cheeses are cultured and aged to perfection. Styles range from French-style soft cheeses to slices and shreds and cheese wheels. You could create a wonderfully varied and delicious vegan cheese board with just a few of Treelines outstanding products, accompanied, of course, by some jams, fried fruits, sliced baguette, and crackers.

For more on vegan cheese, read:The VegNews Guide to Vegan CheeseVegan Babybel Cheese Is Here8 Fabulous Vegan Cheese Shops Across the US

Tanya Flink is a Digital Editor at VegNews as well as a writer and runner living in Orange County, CA.

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The VegNews Guide to the 15 Best Vegan Cheese Brands - VegNews

Now I know the standard philosophy has always been "lift heavy or go home," but that appears to be true only if you're trying to get appreciably stronger because it's part of your sport, you're preparing for the zombie apocalypse, you're woefully insecure, or it helps you in your afterschool job of hoisting sacks of manure onto a truck.

William Kraemer, the Duke Kahanamoku of modern weightlifting theory, stressed in his landmark 2004 paper that using high loads was absolutely necessary so that we could recruit the max number of muscle motor units and thus fully realize a muscle's growth potential.

Others thought that lifting heavy caused tsunamis of growth hormone and testosterone to be released, both of which would work in concert to nurture muscles. Unfortunately, that's happy horseshit.

As I've stressed innumerable times before, just about anything, even hitting your head with a hammer, releases growth hormone (GH). The key to GH-induced growth is sustained and supranatural increases of the hormone not a short-lived little duck snort. The same is true of testosterone. While heavy weights might induce a post-workout surge, you need a sustained surge for it to have any growth benefits.

Anyhow, most of us grew up embracing Kraemer's go heavy or go home dictum, but more recent studies have thrown some shade on that theory. Now I realize that I just finished talking about how studies are prone to confounding factors, but when enough studies come up with the same conclusions, you think maybe that the nerds are onto something.

Specifically, new studies show that training to failure or near failure is more important to muscle growth (not strength) than using heavy weights. Doing as many reps as you can, even with light resistance, ends up recruiting just as many or nearly as many motor units as lifting heavy does, so "lift heavy or go home" no longer has to be the rule of the realm.

Instead, there's no need to go home just train to failure and maybe hang around afterward for a nice mango and whey shake.

Schoenfeld and his colleagues found that doing 25 to 35 reps to failure (which requires muy light weights) worked as well as doing 8 to 12 reps to failure... except in the biceps, where high rep training worked better, increasing the biceps size of participants by 8.6% compared to the 5.3% realized by those who performed low(er) rep/heavier weight training.

Another study, this one conducted by Robert Morton and his colleagues (2016), found that doing high reps (20-25) with light weights (again to failure) worked as well as doing 8-12 reps to failure. Their theory? Volume (reps times weight) can be as important as intensity (percentage of 1RM).

These higher rep ranges usually corresponded to lifting weights that represented 30 to 50% of subjects' 1RM while the lower reps corresponded to lifting weights that ranges from 75 to 90% of 1RM.

And, if you want to throw another study into the pile, Kumar and his colleagues experimented with exercise intensities of 20, 40, 60, 75, and 90% and found that 60% of 1RM was the magic number, stimulating protein synthesis to a greater degree than any other percentage.

But figuring out percentages requires that you first determine your 1RM on every single goddam lift and then doing some cipherin' to figure out how much weight to use. And hardly anyone is going to go to all that trouble.

My recommendation, at least to anyone with a few months/years of lifting experience, is to pick a higher rep range and use your instincts to pick the corresponding weight. It may take you one or two sets to get it right, but it's quicker than figuring out your 1RM's on all your lifts.

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Lift Lighter Weights to Grow Muscle - T NATION

Females are born with all the eggs they will ever have in their lifetime. The amount decreases until a person stops ovulating and reaches menopause.

A females egg quality and quantity determine their likelihood of conceiving. Unlike other cells in the body, egg cells cannot regenerate.

A persons life stage and the presence of various health conditions also affect the number and quality of their eggs.

This article explores how many eggs a female has and their role at different stages of their life. We also discuss tests to measure egg count, fertility options, conditions that may impact eggs, and more.

While females have millions of eggs in their ovaries, they do not mature until puberty. Puberty begins when the hypothalamus, an area of the brain that plays a role in hormone production, produces the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH).

Menstruation typically begins when a female is 1213 years old. However, some may start as early as 8 years old.

A female typically has around 300,000500,000 eggs when puberty begins and rapidly loses more eggs each month. Aside from their monthly cycles, many factors affect how many eggs a person loses every cycle.

The GnRH regulates the onset of puberty, sexual development, egg development, and ovulation by signaling the release of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).

The FSH activates several immature eggs in fluid-filled sacs called follicles to mature during each menstrual cycle. Known as the follicular phase, this process begins on the first day of a persons period.

The ovulation phase begins when the LH stimulates the ovaries to release an egg. However, the ovaries are programmed to allow only one egg to fully mature and be released each cycle. The body reabsorbs the rest.

The chance of fertilization is dependent on the release of a mature egg from the ovary in a particular menstrual cycle.

Learn more about ovulation here.

A female is most fertile in their mid-20s, with a 2530% chance of becoming pregnant each month.

ACOG states that a females fertility gradually and significantly drops around age 32. They will have around 120,000 eggs, with a 20% chance of conceiving per cycle.

ACOG further states that a female will experience a rapid decline by age 37, when egg count drops to around 25,000.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 1 in 5 couples where the female partner is 3039 years old experience problems conceiving their first child. However, both males and females may experience infertility.

Learn more about fertility in a persons 30s here.

By 40, a females chance of conceiving drops to 5%.

Older females generally have a lower success rate with fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

However, more people are successfully conceiving in their 40s. The number of births in women between 4044 years old rose almost continuously from 1985 to 2019. There was a slight decline in birth rates in 2020 across all age groups.

Using eggs donated by younger females increases the chance of success with IVF for older females.

Learn more about having a baby at 40 here.

By the time a female reaches menopause, they may have fewer than 1,000 eggs.

As a person ages, immature eggs become increasingly resistant to the FSH. As the number of viable eggs decreases, the ovaries also begin to produce significantly less estrogen and progesterone.

This leads to menopause, when a persons menstrual cycle ends and they no longer ovulate.

The average age a person reaches menopause in the United States is 52 years. This varies depending on how many eggs a person has at birth and other factors, such as medical conditions and treatment.

Aside from decreasing in number, eggs also drop in quality as a person ages.

A few hours before ovulation, the oocyte divides, resulting in an egg that contains 23 chromosomes. Older age is highly associated with oocyte abnormalities.

These older eggs are more likely to contain abnormal chromosomes. This is why the risk of having a child with Down Syndrome and other abnormalities is higher as a person ages.

This tendency to have extra or missing chromosomes is also responsible for the increased miscarriage and low birth rates among older adult females.

There are tests that a person can take to estimate their egg count.

The antral follicle test involves a medical practitioner using ultrasound to count visible follicles. This gives them an idea of a persons total egg count and how many eggs a person can potentially freeze during one cycle.

The anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is a protein hormone produced by special follicular cells. The AMH level in the blood can help healthcare professionals estimate the number of follicles in a persons ovaries, which gives them an idea of their total egg count.

Since AMH levels are stable throughout the menstrual cycle, a doctor can perform this test at any time.

There are several options a person may consider to improve their chances of pregnancy.

Older people or those who have premature ovarian failure (POF) that causes early menopause may consider egg donation. This involves using eggs donated by another female, typically someone in their 20s or early 30s.

In an egg donation cycle, a donor takes medications to stimulate the production of multiple eggs. At the same time, the recipient undergoes hormone therapy to prepare the uterus for pregnancy.

After the donors eggs are fertilized in a laboratory, a doctor places one or more embryos into the recipients uterus.

Individuals who want to delay childbearing may consider preserving their healthy eggs in a process known as egg freezing. A doctor can extract the eggs while the person is younger and use when they want to become pregnant.

The process involves taking medications to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. These eggs are retrieved and kept in a laboratory at sub-zero temperatures.

When a person is ready to conceive, a doctor thaws the eggs and injects surviving eggs with a partner or a donors sperm for fertilization.

People with unexplained infertility, or when traditional options have failed, may try more advanced therapies. These can include IVF and superovulation with timed intrauterine insemination (IUI).

In superovulation and IUI, a female takes medications to stimulate the growth of multiple eggs in the ovaries. When the eggs are ready to ovulate, a donor or partners washed sperm is injected directly into the uterus. Sometimes an additional medication is given to stimulate ovulation so that timing is more certain.

In contrast, IVF involves removing a persons egg that a doctor fertilizes with a donor or partners sperm in a laboratory. Once successful in fertilization, the doctor transfers the embryo to the uterus.

Most information about egg supply and fertility options is for cisgender and heterosexual females. However, fertility issues can affect anyone born with ovaries.

A person transitioning to male can freeze their eggs, embryos, or ovarian tissue before hormone therapy or gender-affirmation surgery.

People assigned female at birth (AFAB) and taking the male hormone testosterone may experience amenorrhea, the absence of menstruation due to the hormone suppressing ovulation.

The effect of taking testosterone on egg supply is unclear. But a recent small study found that functional ovarian reserve was preserved in transgender men receiving testosterone therapy over a prolonged period.

A case study from 2020 documented a person taking testosterone who was able to retrieve eggs for freezing. They stopped testosterone treatment for only 24 days around the time of egg stimulation. This compares to cases where hormone treatment ceased for up to 6 months before egg retrieval.

Another case study from 2019 reported a 20-year-old transgender male becoming pregnant 2 months after stopping testosterone therapy.

More research is needed to offer accurate fertility guidance to trans people.

A person wishing to discuss their fertility options before or after transitioning should speak with a medical professional.

Learn more about testosterone therapy and pregnancy here.

Age is the major factor that affects a females egg quality. However, some conditions may also contribute, including:

A 2017 study found that oxidative stress damages oocytes and impairs their fertilization capacity. Smoking, drinking, drug use, and inadequate diet can increase free radicals in the body, damaging the egg.

According to the CDC, medical professionals recommend that females younger than 35 years with no health or fertility issues and regular periods try to conceive for at least 1 year before consulting a doctor. However, females 35 years or older should contact a doctor after 6 months and even sooner for those over 40 years old.

People who have other health issues or circumstances such as irregular periods or have received chemotherapy should also consider discussing their fertility options sooner.

A persons biological clock affects their fertility. Age not only decreases egg quantity but can also affect their quality.

People concerned about their egg supply due to factors such as aging, different priorities, gender-affirming surgery or hormone therapy, or preparation for cancer treatment have several fertility options to consider.

A person should discuss these options with a healthcare professional to determine which options are most suitable.

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How many eggs does a woman have? At birth, 30s, and menopause - Medical News Today