Egg Reserve vs. Egg Quality

When it comes to fertility, two key concepts often come up: ovarian reserve and egg quality. While they’re related, they refer to different aspects of a woman’s reproductive potential.

How Many Eggs Are Left?

Ovarian reserve refers to the number of eggs a woman has remaining in her ovaries. Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have—about 1 to 2 million at birth. This number steadily declines over time, especially after age 35. A common way to estimate ovarian reserve is through an Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) test. A higher AMH typically means a greater number of eggs.

How Healthy Are the Eggs?

Egg quality, on the other hand, refers to the genetic health and viability of the eggs. Good quality eggs are more likely to result in successful fertilization, healthy embryo development, and a viable pregnancy. Unfortunately, egg quality declines with age, particularly after age 35, increasing the chances of chromosomal abnormalities and miscarriage.

Why It Matters:

You can have a normal or even high egg reserve but still experience fertility challenges if egg quality is poor. Conversely, someone with low reserve may still conceive if the remaining eggs are high quality.

Understanding both aspects is essential when planning for pregnancy, especially later in life or when considering fertility treatments.

While you can’t increase your ovarian reserve (number of eggs), you can increase their quality. Your eggs take roughly 3-4 months to mature in the ovary before it’s ready to be released for ovulation.

This means that everything you do prior to and during that maturation process can have a huge positive impact on egg quality.

If you are over 35 years of age, trying to conceive, and concerned about how many eggs you have left it is recommended that you get your AMH checked, as well as a full fertility hormone panel. 

If your ovarian reserve is low (but not so low to need IUI or IVF) then you still have a chance of getting pregnant naturally if all other factors are taken into account.

A four month preconception care program such as Joyful Beginnings is highly recommended for cleansing, nourishing, and preparing your body to easily conceive and carry a healthy happy baby to term.